Unintended Consequences
by AngelicDragons
Summary: When you work undercover, danger is everywhere. You just have to depend on the people around you to get you through.
1. Author's Note

**Well this is going to be different, different for me at least. Normally when I write, at the end of the chapter, you know as much about what is going on as I do. I just let the characters tell the story as I write. Things change accordingly. However, this story is different.**

**I have a story outline, a plot, character development, bad guys, and a case even. I've never done a case. This should be interesting. I don't know how many chapters it's going to be, but I know the points I want to hit. This could be my crowning achievement in fanfiction. My "Citizen Cane" if you will. (I so hope so.)**

**On the other hand, given that this is completely against my normal style it could be a flaming ball of epic fail. My "Plan 9 From Outer Space." If it does turn out like Plan 9, at least it will be very entertaining failure, in a gruesome plane crash sort of way. (Man, I hope not.)**

**Even though I have a plan here, I still welcome (and need) reviews. I will fix the parts that aren't working. I write because love to, but I like to keep the fans happy.**

**And on that note, away we go.**


	2. Gut Feeling

Deeks sat in his chair typing away at the reports that constantly showed up in his inbox. Arrest reports, surveillance reports, and everyone's absolute favorite, expense reports. Hetty looked at each one personally. Deeks found that out the second week at NCIS when he placed a decimal at the wrong spot and almost cost the OPS a million dollars. That conversation had left a lasting impression on Deeks. He found it bizarre that even paperwork was a welcome distraction from thinking about Kensi being at training in Miami. At least she would be back on Saturday. So, only four days to go before he could pick up Gunpowder and Sunshine. At least this was actual training, training. Kensi promised him that it was all exactly what it appeared to be. It wasn't some super top secret, middle of nowhere, where even the friendlies are enemies, and now one has your back special operation. She was in a five star hotel at night and in classes at the FBI field office all day. What more could he ask for.

He was both excited and a little nervous. He was excited because she was coming back, obviously. He was nervous because he had finally signed his agent papers and resigned from the LAPD. He was going to tell Kensi when she got home. He thought this was something to do face to face. Afterwards they could celebrate. The problem was he knew the issue of when the paper work was done would come up and he would have to admit to not signing them two years ago. They would get by it, he was sure of that, but he wasn't exactly looking forward to having to make an admission.

"This is why I'm not getting anything done." Deeks thought to himself. "I keep getting sidetracked thinking about Kensi. I'm never going to finish these stupid things." Deeks refocused himself on what he was doing. Unfortunately, that was the hundredth time he had refocused in the last, he glanced at the clock on the wall, hour. He was so focused he didn't hear Sam and G walk up in front of the desk.

"This is just sad G." Sam said with a forced frown on his face.

"It really is Sam." Callen agreed with a nod of his head.

Deeks looked up with a smile on his face. "I thought the two of you would be impressed that I was actually trying to catch up on paper work. Don't I usually get grief for not having everything done?"

Callen made a show of looking at his watch. "Its 6:30 on a Wednesday and you are here doing paper work. Well it looks like he is either pining for Kensi or sucking up as the new agent. Sucking up would explain why Hetty gave him such a nice car. What do you think it is G?" He shot a look at Sam.

"It looks like pining to me. Pining for the woman he loves."

Despite his best efforts Deeks smiled. "I am not pining. I'm working." He tapped a few keys on the keyboard to make his point. "See?"

"I'm not convinced." G responded.

"Neither am I." Sam finally cracked a smile and covered his mouth with his hand. "I guess the question we should ask is what he plans to do when he leaves?"

"Yes, what are your plans?" Callen repeated the question.

Deeks almost immediately responded with his real plans but realized how that would only open him up to more ridicule. Unfortunately, he was attempting to lie to fellow undercover agents who knew him very well. They immediately saw the hesitation and jumped on it.

"No plans." They both said in unison exchanging a look.

"It's so sad to watch a former single man of the world fall so hard." G said.

"Really, how would you know?" Sam asked incredulously.

"It happened to you."

Sam finally let out a full laugh "That is true. I am completely lost without Michelle. Wouldn't even try to go it alone."

"Come on, both of you. Drinks are on me." G said heading for the door.

"I'll have to meet you guys there. I need to go home and let Monty out. The usual place?"

"Absolutely."

"I'll see you guys there."

Deeks walked out to the brand new Porsche 911 Turbo S. He wasn't sure whether it was a test from Hetty or he really was her favorite. All he knew for sure was that if he hurt it in anyway, she would kill him dead then really go to work on him. That didn't stop him from driving like a maniac though. Turning the key over the engine roared to life.

"Got to love that sound." Deeks smiled as he pressed the gas pedal a couple of times. "To bad I have to pay for the gas." Deeks dropped the car into gear and blasted out of the parking lot. "Yyyyyaaaaahhhhoooo." As he left the parking lot it occurred to him that he was going to have to share with Kensi when she got back. "I'm never going to be able to drive this car again."

As he approached his apartment he noticed two blacked-out Tahoes on the street in front. One on either side the street facing toward his apartment. He thought he was being paranoid, but Sam had been hammering him on proper tradecraft recently, and this just didn't feel right. Was he over reacting? Since he couldn't answer the question, he decided to phone a friend.

"You don't get to back out on us Deeks." Sam said instead of the standard hello.

"I'm approaching my apartment, about a block out, and there are two Tahoe's, totally blacked out on either side of the street. I've never seen them before." Deeks got out in a rush. "I think you are making me paranoid."

Deeks heard G in the back ground. "If it feels wrong, then it is wrong."

Deeks could here tires squeal and the engine in the Charger roar to life. "We are coming to you Deeks. Turn around right now." Same replied.

The lights on both Tahoe's turned on and the one facing the wrong way flipped around.

"OH shit. Too late, they are coming at me." Deeks turned the wheel until it locked and hit the gas. The car turned on the dime it was designed too. The turbo kicked in and the Porsche accelerated away. Anywhere else the Porsche would have left the two large SUVs far behind, but this was Los Angeles. Deeks got about a block when said traffic got in his way. He had to hit the breaks to stop from wiping out into a minivan that changed lanes without looking. He should have just hit the van, because the lead Tahoe chasing him slammed into the back of the Porsche.

As he heard the backend of the Porsche get crushed and watched the front end fold into the minivan three thoughts crossed his mind. The first was that Hetty was going to kill him, set him on fire, and bury him under the OPS center so that she could dance on the ashes. The second was how much the impact hurt. His ribs were going to be hurting for weeks. The third and final thought was that the guys jumping out of the Tahoes behind him were heavily armed. He shook his head a couple of times to clear it and then leapt out the passenger door on the far side of the car. As Deeks kept low trying to put distance between him and the gunman. He noticed three guys get out of each vehicle and approach the crushed Porsche. Deeks was encouraged by the fact that they didn't immediately open fire on the car. At least if it wasn't a hit, he might get out alive.

"There he is." Yelled one of the masked gunmen as he raised his rifle and fired in Deeks direction. Deeks dove to the ground, rolling behind the nearest car. He waited for the firing to stop, then looked around the car, and put two rounds into the chest of the gunman currently shooting.

"He's got a gun." With that all the gunmen pointed their weapons in his direction. Five rifles to one pistol where really lousy odds to be on the wrong end of. At least Sam and G were on the way. All he had to do was hang on.

* * *

When the call disconnected Sam pushed the Challenger even harder. The Challenger entered Deeks street sideways two blocks from the incident.

"Damn!" G exclaimed pulling his pistol from his holster. He could see the wrecked out Porsche and men with rifles firing down the street. "Do you see Deeks?"

Sam shifted lanes into oncoming traffic. "He's on the far side of the street behind the Ford F150." The gunmen were to intent on Deeks to notice the car baring down on them. Sam ran two of them over with the Challenger before the remaining three caught on. Sam jumped on of the driver seat and leaned over the hood of the car putting two bullets through the side of a gunman not fast enough to reach cover. G didn't even get out of the car before firing several shots into the closest gunman dropping him onto the pavement.

They briefly lost track of the last gunman during the intense action but realized he was heading toward the last place they saw Deeks. Clearing the collection of abandoned cars left by the shootout Sam and G shot at him at the same time. He was brought down by no less than six bullets.

"Go check on Deeks." Callen yelled to Sam. I'm going to make sure all these guys are actually down.

Sam took off toward the truck yelling, "Deeks! Deeks!" As he came around the side of the truck he skidded to a stop and felt his blood run cold. Deeks was bleeding profusely from two bullet wounds high on his left side. Sam pulled out his phone and dropped to his knees at the same time. There was an emergency number for NCIS to call to skip the regular channels. "This is Agent Sam Hanna, trace this call, I need an ambulance at this location now. I have an agent with multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body." Same applied pressure with his free hand. "Come on Deeks. You've been shot before, you can pull through this."

G came running up behind Sam and stopped on the spot. "Dammit." He yelled as he hit the ground helping Sam stop the bleeding.

"I've already called for an ambulance. They are on the way." Sam said as he looked up at G.

"Alright." G just sat there trying to remain calm.

* * *

It took three minutes for the ambulance to arrive but it felt like hours. Sam rode with Deeks while G waited to deal with the large police presence appearing on scene. The easiest way to deal with the police was to call Hetty.

"Hetty." G said as he heard the phone pick up. "Somebody tried to hit Deeks. We just had a shootout four blocks from his house. He took two to the upper body and is on his way to the hospital. We have five dead gunman and one live one that was run over by the Charger. The LAPD wants answers and I don't' have any."

Hetty remained silent for a moment. "I see Mr. Callen. I will make the necessary calls to get this cleared up. You can go to the hospital when they release you in the next few minutes. And Mr. Callen, I'll make the call to Kensi."

G closed his eyes and felt dread run down his spine. Kensi was going to lose it. "Right Hetty. Thanks." With that the call disconnected and Callen waited to be released from the scene.


	3. Hurry Up And Wait

**Here is the second chapter. Given the large number of follows this story received with just one chapter out, I hope it is up to snuff.**

**Please enjoy the read and leave a review to let me know how things are going.**

**Disclaimer: I don't know NCIS: LA.**

* * *

Kensi entered her hotel room and threw her bag and books on the little sofa. The accommodations were a lot better than the last time she had been away on her own. Well she hadn't exactly been on her own but she had been without Deeks. It had taken two days and a visit from Hetty to convince Deeks that she wasn't being spirited away on some clandestine mission to the middle of nowhere. She couldn't really blame him. The last time she had disappeared before he even got back to the Mission. He hadn't found out she was in Afghanistan until she was already in country. This time they talked every night and texted throughout the day. In fact he should be calling soon.

She looked around the room. This was the nicest place she had been in without being undercover. She had a nice queen size bed, a giant flat screen television, a fully stocked mini bar, and quite possibly the most advanced whirlpool tub she had ever experienced. In fact that was going to be her next stop.

As she slipped into the tub, the jets began relaxing her muscles, and she just let her mind wander. You would think that a two week seminar on urban surveillance techniques would be a little more interesting. It wasn't that she wasn't learning things, it's just they seemed to have deliberately made the subject as boring as possible. Even the presentation of the new technology, which was very cool, was presented in such a way to cause a person to fall asleep in moments. However, there had been one very redeeming moment in the whole seminar. Halfway through the course they actually talked about the sort of food and drinks to bring on a stakeout. The presenter showed a list in the power point of food appropriate for a stake out. Number two on the list was Twinkies. She had taken a picture and texted it to the entire team. From the responses she got back the ribbing she was going to get when she got back was going to be brutal.

After pruning in the tub for forty five minutes, she used the ridiculously luxurious towels to dry herself. If it wasn't for the mind numbing classes during the day and no Deeks, this could have been a vacation. Her phone began ringing from the sofa.

"Speak of the devil and he appears." She said with a smile. She glanced at the screen as she picked it up to see his face but it wasn't there. Instead the screen simply said Hetty. Hetty shouldn't be calling her. Not this late at night. Not when Deeks should be calling. There was no way the news she was about to receive could be good. She felt her knees go out from under and she collapsed on the sofa. Her hand was shaking as she hit the answer button.

"Hetty?" Her voice almost failed her.

"He's alive Kensi. Deeks is alive."

Kensi released a breath she had been holding since she saw the name on the phone. "What happened?"

"There were people waiting for him at his apartment. There was a shootout. Deeks took two shots to the upper body."

Kensi let out a sob. He had been shot again. Her Deeks.

"He is in route to the hospital now, but he is stable. Pack your bags and head to the airport. When you get there call me and I will get you on a direct flight to Los Angeles. Sam and Callen are with him."

"Ok. Ok." Those were all the words she could get out. Deeks had been shot again without her being there. She took a deep breath and focused. "I'll call as soon as I get to the airport." Kensi disconnected the call. She quickly began packing her bag trying her best to ignore the worst case scenarios running through her mind.

* * *

Granger set down his beer and picked up his phone to see who was calling.

"Hetty." He sighed to himself. His quiet night of watching baseball was about to come to a screeching halt. He just wondered what else had come to a halt. Hetty never called him with good news.

"Yes, Hetty."

"Agent Deeks has been shot."

That got Granger's complete attention. "When? How?"

"Roughly twenty minutes ago. He took two rifle shots to the upper chest. He just went into surgery. Agent Hanna is there waiting for an update. Agent Callen is with the LAPD. A group of individuals were waiting for him at his apartment. He recognized the trap and attempted to flee. A shoot out ensued. Agents Hanna and Callen arrived to help agent Deeks. Five of the six gunmen were killed at the scene. The sixth one is also in route to the hospital. I've contacted LAPD to inform them that we are running the investigation. Agent Callen will be leaving the scene momentarily. I have techs on the way there to investigate." Granger heard Hetty take a breath. He had an idea of what was coming. "I've already called agent Blye. I have her on the first direct flight back from Miami."

Granger rubbed his hand over his face putting his thoughts in order. "I didn't think they were currently on any active cases?"

"They aren't. Everyone has been in training this month and catching up on paperwork. Callen's group is down in the rotation."

"I assume that nobody recognized the gunmen?"

"Neither Agents Hanna nor Callen recognized them. We will know more once the scene investigators go over everything. I'm headed to the hospital to check on our agent and our prisoner."

"And to act as a protective detail until we figure out what is going on?"

"Of course Owen."

"Alright, text me the location of the shootout. I want to go down there and look at all this myself."

"Certainly." With that the line disconnected.

Granger rose from his chair and headed to the bedroom. "Just once, I'm going to sit down and finish an entire game. Just once." He looked back at the game one last time. "Hopefully the Dodgers will have a better night than I am."

* * *

Sam was sitting in a waiting room, again. It had happened so often in his life he had lost count. Every time was just a little bit worse than the last. Except for the birth of his daughter. The one lone instance of a good trip to the hospital.

Sam checked his watch again. An hour since they had arrived. One hour and he hadn't heard anything. The waiting was unbearable. One of these days he knew, just knew, we was going to come completely unglued in a hospital waiting room. Fortunately at that moment, Callen walked into the room.

"I take it he is still in surgery?"

"Yes and haven't heard a thing since they took him back." Sam started pacing again. "Flashing the badge didn't even get me anything. They just don't know yet." Sam stopped mid stride. "I haven't called Kensi yet. I can't bring myself to do it when we don't know anything."

"Hetty is contacting Kensi."

Sam gave G a questioning glance.

"I had to call her because LAPD was asking a bunch of questions I couldn't answer. They wanted to take me in for questioning." Callen shrugged his shoulders. "She volunteered to make the call. I wasn't going to argue with her. I'm tired of giving Kensi bad news."

"Me too, man. Me too." Sam began his pacing again.

"What about the survivor? The guy you hit with the car." Callen asked.

"I should have backed up and made sure that I finished the job. Him I have information on. Rat bastard is in surgery as well. He should make it. Crushed his ribs, broke his legs, and he has a concussion."

"When will we be able to question him?" Callen desperately hoped that they could get some answers.

"Between the surgery, the anesthesia, and concussion? They have no idea when he might come to."

"So, waiting in a hospital again?" Callen sat down in the waiting room.

"Yeah." Sam said sitting down in a chair. "Waiting again."

* * *

Five hours and twenty minutes later a visibly upset Kensi Blye entered the waiting room. The flight had been horrible. Every bad outcome played through her mind in amazing detail. The two calls she made in flight had both been met with the same answer, no update. She couldn't bring herself to make a third call. She just waited to get to the hospital.

Now, standing in the waiting room, seeing the members of her team sitting in the chairs waiting, she wasn't sure she could ask the question that had haunted her for the duration of the flight.

Hetty was the first to approach her. "He's stable Kensi." She walked over and sat down next to her teammates. "He is stable Kensi. He's in recovery now. They will be moving him to a private room in the next half hour. He is going to be fine Kensi. The bullets didn't hit anything vital. Just bone and muscle damage. He will need rehab, but he will be ok."

Tears that Kensi had hidden her entire life ran down her cheeks. All her worst nightmares appeared to be coming true just moments ago relieved in a matter of seconds. All she wanted to do in the world was see Deeks. Everything else could wait until after that happened. As the group sat around Kensi, Granger entered the room.

"How is Agent Deeks?" was the first thing out of his mouth.

Hetty answered the question. "Out of surgery. They will be moving him to a private room momentarily. He will make a full recovery."

"That's good news."

"What did you find out at the scene?" Hetty questioned.

"The Tahoes were stolen out of Mexico and moved across the border. All the guns had their serial numbers filed off and aren't recoverable. Their clothing is common and purchased anywhere. None of them had identification. All we know is that they are of Hispanic descent."

"Hmm." Hetty sighed.

At that moment a doctor entered the room. "Marty Deeks?"

Everyone looked at Kensi as she stood from her chair. "I'm his girlfriend."

"Ah, Miss Blye I presume. We've just moved him to a private room. You can visit him now. He is still under sedation, so it will be awhile before he wakes." The doctor turned to leave. "If you will follow me."

Kensi and the doctor left the room.

Sam spoke first. "We give her a few minutes. Then we go visit."

* * *

The doctor led Kensi to the door and then left. Ever since Hetty's call all Kensi wanted to do was see Deeks, but now that she was outside the door she hesitated about what she might find. She opened the door and entered the room.

She was so glad to see him. He looked pale but he looked good. He looked so much better than he had in any of her fear fueled day dreams on the flight to Los Angeles. She walked over to the bed and gently caressed his face.

"Hey baby." She whispered softly. "You can't scare me like this. We promised one another no more life threating situations in this relationship." She let out a short laugh. "Besides, we both agreed that I was the drama portion of the partnership. You are supposed to be the comedy. The doctor says that the wound is going to be painful, but you will make a complete recovery. There will be a lot of physical therapy involved, but I will help you through it."

Kensi wasn't sure how long she was in the room before she heard the door open. She watched as G, Sam, and Hetty walk into the room.

"How is agent Deeks?" Hetty asked quietly.

"Resting." Kensi said. "I hate it when he is so still. Even sleeping, he moves more."

"Well, we just wanted to see for ourselves. We will leave you to it." Hetty turned and left the room.

G walked over to the bed and grabbed Deeks's hand, leaned down, and whispered something in Deeks's ear. He stood up, nodded at Kensi and left the room.

Sam walked up to the foot of the bed and laid his hand on Deeks's foot.

"This is how I found him after the nuclear bomb mess. Sitting in a hospital bed. I hoped I would never see him like this again."

As Sam talked something in Kensi's tired, worried mind clicked.

"Sam, both Hetty and Granger referred to Deeks as agent Deeks not Detective Deeks. What's going on?"

Sam turned and looked at her. "I wasn't sure you were going to pick up on that or not, given everything. It's really Deeks's news to give. I don't want to steal his thunder. "

"Sam!"

"Fine, just remember that he's been shot and it was supposed to be a surprise, so when he tells you act like you don't know. He signed his papers last week to resign from the LAPD and join NCIS as a permanent agent. It's all a done deal."

Kensi shook her head. "How? Even if Hetty signed off on it, Granger would have to approve it and he hates Deeks."

Sam laughed. "Of course Hetty signed off on it. I'm pretty sure he is her favorite. Granger doesn't hate him either. Even if he did he knows he owes Deeks and would have signed off on it anyway. Besides Director Vance likes Deeks and that alone would have moved everything through."

"Wait, Granger owes Deeks?"

Sam walked over and sat down in the chair beside Kensi. "I'm going to talk about Afghanistan. Are you up for that?"

Kensi didn't trust her voice so she simply shook her head.

"We were all a mess when we were told you were missing. None of us worse than Deeks. That's why I didn't let him come out into the desert with us. He was completely at the end of his rope and nobody knew what he was going to do next, not even him." Sam rubbed his hands together. "So, me, G, Granger, and some other agents go rolling out into the desert searching for you with the plan to basically destroy things until we get to you. It didn't work. We ended up getting pinned down by a superior force of Taliban." He turned to look her in the eyes. "They owned us, Kensi. They owned us. All they had to do was walk up the hill and finish us off. We didn't even have rocks to throw back at them. That's when the helicopter showed up. Deeks had a plan. In his grief, in his fear, he never stopped trying. He thought outside the box and not only saved our lives but got you back in the process. Granger owes Deeks his life. So do G and I. Deeks never quit. It never occurred to him too. "

Sam took a deep breath to get his voice back under control. "Director Vance was impressed and enormously relieved not to have lost everyone in the fiasco that the mission had become. That's when Deeks cemented his place at NCIS. Everyone got to see what I saw in an auto garage seven months previously. Marty Deeks doesn't know how to quit and he will do anything for his friends. What more could anyone ask of an agent, or a man."

* * *

Granger, Hetty, and Callen were all sitting quietly in the waiting room. Now that Deeks was in the clear and going to make a full recovery the tension in the room had gone down several notches. Now they were waiting for news on the surviving gunman. He was the only lead they had to what all this was about.

The doctor walked into the waiting room. "He's awake. You can speak to him now. I would ask you to take it easy on him but, and I know this not professional, I really don't care what happens to him. This way."

The three NCIS operatives followed this doctor out of the waiting room.


	4. Awareness and Understanding

**Oh man. I'm sorry. I forgot story etiquette. I should have said spoilers through the end of Season five are in play. I'm still getting the hang of the do's and do not's of FanFiction. I'm sorry if I spoiled anything for anyone. That was completely my fault and I will do my best not to let it happen again.**

**So, here is the third installment. Thank you everyone for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing. Keep them coming.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.**

* * *

Granger, Hetty, and G entered the hospital room of the last gunman. Questioning him while still out of sorts from the surgery and pain medication was their best bet of getting him to talk.

Granger walked over to the bed, leaning down into the suspects face. "What were you trying to do? Was it a kidnapping or a hit? Why was he targeted?"

The suspect opened his eyes and looked around the room. He closed his eyes and muttered. "Yo no hablo Inglés." (_ I don't speak English.)_

"No me importa qué idioma habla. Conozco a varios. Responder a mis preguntas." Granger stated leaning in closer to the suspect. (_I do not care what language you speak. I know several. Answer my questions.)_

"I want a lawyer." He said giving up his ploy at not understanding.

"I'm afraid that we can't give you one of those." Hetty said entering the conversation. "You see what you did counts as an act of terrorism. You are being held as an enemy combatant. All the other members of your team are dead. You have been reported as deceased as well. You no longer exist. You don't have any rights. You belong to us mind, body, and soul. What you have is information. Depending on the value of the information you have, you can trade it to get back pieces of your life."

The suspect looked around the room again, this time with a very different expression. He leaned his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. Doing jail time was one thing, but ending up in the shadow world of terrorism was more than he signed on for. With his crew dead, there's wasn't even anyone left to betray.

"It was supposed to be a simple snatch and grab. We grab the egg head, throw him in the back, rough him up a little and deliver him to the buyer. Who the hell knew that the egg head would have a gun, much less body guards."

Granger, Hetty, and G all looked at one another in confusion.

"Who was this egg head you were after?" Granger prompted.

"Stephen Alexander. He had information that our client wanted. We staked out his work shop and followed him home. After that we staked out his home. He didn't come home often. When he dropped the dog off this morning, we knew he would be coming back tonight. So we set up and waited."

Up until this time Callen hadn't said anything. "Who is your employer?"

"We never met him. Our contact was a lawyer, well he dressed and talked like a lawyer at least. Isaac Simons. That's all I know."

The three NCIS agents left the room without another word. Granger was the first to speak.

"Stephen Alexander?"

Hetty was answered. "It was an ID we set up for Mr. Deeks to find a leek inside a naval defense contractor. They knew that information was being removed from the company but they didn't know where it was going. We set him up as an independent engineer that created a sound proofing material for submarines that would allow them to stay undetected even during an active sonar search."

"What?" Granger questioned.

"Oh, it doesn't exist, but we had to make sure the bait was enticing enough to ensure that it got taken. We got the employee accessing the data and the mid-level arms dealer he was stealing it for. Our investigation concluded that the dealer was going to use the information to move up the food chain."

"Why don't I remember any of this?" Granger asked

"It happened while you were in Afghanistan, Owen. Right before everyone came back as a matter of fact." Hetty shook her head.

"Well somebody else got a look at the documents and believes them to be real." G tried to move the conversation along. He really didn't feel like rehashing the mess in Afghanistan right now.

"Looks like your mid-level dealer was working for a much bigger fish." Granger looked at his watch. "Depending on your point of view it's late or early. Either way, we grab some rest and meet first thing in the morning at the Mission to decide where to go from here. Between Kensi and the two agents in the hall I think Deeks will be fine until morning."

With that the three NCIS operatives left the hospital to get varying degrees of rest before the real work began.

* * *

At 6:48 AM Deeks started coming to. He knew the exact time because it was on the bottom corner of the TV news on the television. He looked at himself as his memories came rushing back. He had been shot, again. That was bad. That's when a worse thought occurred to him. He had totaled the Porsche 911 Turbo S. If the bullets hadn't been fatal, Hetty's anger certainly would be. As he looked around the room he saw Kensi curled up on the sofa along the wall asleep.

Deeks wondered how long he had been out. Kensi wasn't supposed to be back until the weekend. If he had been out that long things must be a lot worse than he felt. He started wondering how heavy the pain killers he was on were. Before he could go too far into that train of thought the door to his room opened and a nurse entered.

"Ah, you're are awake. Excellent. I thought so from the change in your vitals. I'm just going to get some measurements, take your blood pressure, and then I'll let the doctor know. I'll answer any questions that you have, if I know the answer."

"What day is it? How long have I been out?"

"It's Thursday morning. You've been out around nine hours or so. Not long at all for two gunshot wounds. They didn't hit anything vital but you are going to need intense physical therapy for your shoulder. The doctor will be able to explain more to you about that."

Deeks rested his head back on the people. Good. He hadn't been out for days or weeks. That means Kensi came back, fast. No wonder she was knocked out on the sofa. She came back in the middle of the night, with jet lag, to see him laid up in the hospital again. At least this time there wouldn't be any awkward relationship angst to work through.

That was when Kensi stirred. The nurse's voice woke her. As she raised her head to look around the first thing she noticed was Deeks bright blue eyes.

"You're awake." She said jumping from the sofa toward the bed.

"Hey Fern."

"I'm gone for not even two weeks and look at the trouble you get yourself into." Kensi reached up and brushed his hair off his forehead.

"Hey, you now I need a chaperone all the time. I'm pretty sure you introduced yourself as that on more than one occasion." He smiled at her.

She laid her head on his good shoulder. "Dammit Deeks, you scared me. You specifically promised me you wouldn't die."

Deeks smiled a little wider. "Technically, I didn't die. Maybe you should have been more specific when requesting exactly what level of physical condition you wanted me to stay in."

"You really are a lawyer aren't you?"

"Old habits die hard, Kensilina, but I am right."

Deeks, don't be an ass." Kensi pulled her hand back and caught herself.

"HA. The first perk of being shot. You can't hit me."

Kensi leaned down kissing oh the lips. "Just wait to you get better. Then we are sparring, with the training knives." She pulled back and smiled evilly at him.

Deeks winced. "Touché."

Deeks looked down at the blankets for a minutes toying with them. "So, has Hetty mentioned the car yet?"

"What car?"

"The car that got totaled when they attacked me."

"You totaled my Cadillac?" Kensi said with more than a little shock.

That brought a smile to Deeks's face. He hadn't told her about the Porsche. It was supposed to be a surprise as well. "Not exactly."

* * *

At 7 AM sharp the next morning everyone was at the Mission in OPS. Eric and Nell had pulled up everything on the Stephen Alexander identity and the case that they were working when Deeks was using it.

Nell began the briefing. "Information was being stolen from a defense contractor, Blue Abyss Inc. They specialize in deep ocean equipment, both personal equipment and transport. That had recently begun the testing phase of a group of highly advanced deep water drones. They realized, after an internal audit, that information was being stolen from the company. Before we got involved the information missing was just confidential, not classified, but there was concern that the proprietary systems used to keep the drones running at extreme depth would be compromised.

Agent Deeks was sent in as an engineer working on a stealth skin for the drones. The idea was that something this advanced would trump the actual drone program and when found would immediately be taken by the mole. The information was encoded to send location information if removed electronically and to log every system that accessed in case it was removed as a hard copy.

It only took two weeks to find the mid-level engineer who was downloading the information and taking it out of Blue Abyss Inc. He was lured to the boat shed with the information where he was arrested and then given the opportunity to flip on the person he was relaying the information to. He jumped at the chance. Turns out he had large gambling debts and the marker had been bought by a small time arms dealer looking for a break into the big time. I hate to refer to the shootout that occurred at the drop as routine, but he was apprehended. Both the mole and the arms dealer were charge, convicted, and sentenced for treason. They are still both serving their sentences."

"OK." Granger said. "If everyone is dead or in jail how did Deeks become a target?"

Nell looked at the Assistant Director. "The hard copies were never recovered. It was believed, when they weren't found, that they burned up in the arms dealer's car when a grenade was detonated inside it."

"Apparently not." Granger answered.

"No sir. Apparently the hard copy is out in the open now. Someone believes it to be real and wanted Stephen Alexander to create it."

As everyone was talking Callen was looking at all the documents on the screen when something occurred to him. "Wait a minute. The set up at the boat shed. We had to put somebody in that could run the mole in circles while Deeks did his thing. Nell, an identity was created for you as a research partner for Stephen Alexander."

"Right, Shelby Reece. I was there to obfuscate any of the technical stuff that got too detailed in case they got…" voice trailed off as she realized Callen's insinuation. "You think I could be a target?"

Hetty entered the conversation. "We are going to have to rethink our plan Owen."

Sam looked between Hetty and Granger. "What plan?"

Hetty responded. "Since Agent Deeks is in no condition to go under cover, we were going to have Mr. Stephen Alexander expire from his two gunshot wounds. We were going to present Agent Callen as a current employee of Blue Abyss still working on the project in his stead. However, with the possibility of Miss Jones alias already in the open and an attack against her, we are going to have to do something far more proactive to insure her safety."

"Like what?" Nell sounded a little afraid and a little excited at the same time. Everyone knew that she wanted to go undercover, but operating this much in the dark was incredibly dangerous.

"Wait a minute." Sam held up his hand. "Just so I'm clear. Almost a year ago we created such a plausible and desirable, yet nonexistent, classified weapon connected to cover ids so robust that now Deeks is sitting in a hospital with two bullet wounds and we are facing the possibility that Nell could be the next target?"

"It would appear so agent Hanna."

"I don't know whether that means we did a good job creating both the fake identities and the classified information or we blew the entire operation by not knowing that the information moved further along the food chain than we were aware?"

Granger looked around the room. "I guess that will depend on the outcome of what we do next, Sam."


	5. A Little Information

**And we continue to move the story forward.**

**Thank you for all the follows and especially the reviews. I hope that everyone continues to enjoy the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.**

* * *

"Ok, let me get this straight. Hetty let you drive a brand new Porsche 911 Turbo S? Why would Hetty let you drive that? You said you weren't on a case?" Kensi was genuinely curious how he got the car but was more interested in seeing if he would stumble over officially becoming an agent.

"What can I say, it's my roguish charm and ruggedly good looks." He fired a dazzling smile at her.

"Uh huh." Kensi said giving him her best 'Not buying it' stare.

"Well, I wanted to tell you this under much different circumstances, but now that we are here…I quit the LAPD and am now officially an NCIS agent."

Kensi let a smile slowly cross her face. "It's about time." She reached out and grabbed is hand giving it a squeeze. "You certainly deserve it. I've got to ask though, how did you get it done so quickly? I was only gone two weeks."

This was the question that Deeks had been dreading. "Yeah, about that. The paper work had been done for a while now. Hetty asked me to leave the LAPD over a year ago. I'm the one that was putting it off."

"Why?" Kensi really wanted to know the answer to the question.

"Up until the last year and a half, I wasn't sure I really fit in here." He looked up to see Kensi's best 'you can't be serious' look. "I know I'm a good cop. I'm good at undercover work. But this agent thing, there's a whole lot more to it than just cop work. I wasn't sure I could do it. But then… so many things happened." Deeks thought a minute about what he would say next. He hadn't told anyone what Sam had said to him in the hospital. "Sam told me he would owe me for the rest of his life for not giving up Michelle. He told me I would be a great agent."

Kensi could see in his eyes how much that compliment had meant to him, especially coming from Sam.

"And then… the whole thing."

"You can say it, 'After Afghanistan'."

"After Afghanistan, so much changed, and not just professionally. Everything felt different, better. I figured it was time to move forward." He gave her a smile.

She smiled back. "Good plan Deeks. A very good plan."

* * *

"The first thing we do is backstop Agent Deeks so that Stephen Alexander is good and truly dead." Granger said leaning against the table in OPS.

Eric didn't even look up from his console in the corner. "Already on it."

"Secondly" Granger continued, "We have to insure Miss Jones safety hasn't already been compromised. Agent Callen, Agent Hanna can you please run a sweep of Miss Jones home and surrounding area to be sure that a secondary team is not already in play?"

"Right." G responded.

"On it." Sam replied following G out the door.

"And we are going to have to fill in the rest of Shelby's time at Blue Abyss." Hetty cut in.

In the corner, sitting next to Eric, Nell sat typing away at her keyboard. "I'm working on that now."

"When the two of you are finished see what you can find out about this Isaac Simons."

"This is the part I hate." Granger leaned on the table. "We wait and see what happens next and hope we aren't playing catch up from too far behind."

The phone to the OPS center rang and Nell took it on her headset. "Nell."

"Hey Nell, its Kensi."

"Kensi! How is Deeks?"

"He is awake and alert. Are Hetty and/or Granger there? Deeks has some questions. I was hoping that now would be a good time to ask them."

"That's great. Tell him everyone is thinking about him."

Nell hit the mute button and turned in her chair. "Its Kensi and Deeks. He's awake. He wanted to ask some questions about what happened."

"Put him on." Hetty responded immediately.

Nell tapped several buttons. "You are on speaker guys."

Deeks spoke first. "Am I blown?"

Granger emitted what for him was a laugh. "No, Agent Deeks, your first official act as a NCIS agent was not to have your cover blown. In fact the group targeting you thought you were one of your covers, Stephen Alexander to be precise."

"The geek?"

"Hey!" both Nell and Eric responded with hurt in their voices.

"Oops. Sorry guys, no offense." Deeks apologize.

"The men after you were working for someone else. We have the name of a middle man but nothing else right now. We have fully killed off your Stephen Alexander alias."

Kensi spoke up on the line. "What do you want us to do?"

"Do, Miss Blye?"

"Hetty, if you let her sit here with me for the next week, she'll kill me. Please give her an errand. Save me."

The group in the OPS center heard Kensi whisper something to Deeks but couldn't make it out.

"Well Miss Blye, if you are truly interested in helping you could visit the little fish we caught in the original operation. Maybe you will have a perspective the rest of us didn't originally. I'll have Eric send the information to your phone."

"Thank you Hetty."

"Oh, and Mr. Deeks?"

"Yes, Hetty?"

"We will speak about the Porsche when you return."

"Yes, Hetty."

* * *

G and Sam decided to park the car and take a walk around Nell's apartment complex. Two guys out wandering around in LA would draw less attention that the Challenger driving in circles.

"Nothing is jumping out at me G." Sam was looking at the street for anything out of the ordinary.

"Yeah. I haven't seen the same face twice and this is our third time around." G stopped walking. "Let's go take a stroll through the court yard.

"Yeah." Sam agreed. "It's possible that they haven't had time to adjust yet. The move on Deeks just failed last night. They might not even know the team failed yet. The meet to turn him over wasn't supposed to happen for another hour."

"Yeah, I know. But the only reason they didn't get Deeks is because he's been doing the undercover thing for years and he was looking for trouble. Nell doesn't have that kind of experience. We are going to have to get out in front of whoever is running this. I don't want to have to count on luck a second time."

"I hear you G. I hear you."

* * *

Granger and Hetty entered OPS after the call from Eric.

"What have you found Mr. Beale?"

Eric tapped a few buttons and information and pictures began appearing on the screens. "Isaac Simons. He is an attorney. His practice is totally devoted to the business of the "Death's Head" cartel. They, unlike other cartels, don't make their money solely from drugs. Their major source of income is from smuggling and arms dealing. According to the DEA, he runs the "Death's Head" business for the entire southwestern United States. He reports directly to this man." Eric taps a few more keys causing another picture to appear on screen. "Alvarez 'Dark Angel' Santiago. He runs the cartel from south of the border."

Granger looks at the information. "An arms dealer and smuggler that wants classified stealth drone submarines. I think I've had this nightmare before."

"Get me Agents Hanna and Callen." Hetty requested.

Nell pushed a few buttons and Callen's voice filled the room.

"Callen."

"Agent Callen. I would like you to pick up a Mr. Isaac Simons. He has been identified by the surviving gunman and he has connections to the 'Death's Head' cartel."

"Will do Hetty."

"Agent Callen."

"Yes Hetty."

"He is a lawyer. If he doesn't come willingly arrest him on domestic terrorism charges and drag him back here. He doesn't get the choice."

"Right." With that the call disconnected.

* * *

Sam and Callen pulled up in front of a three story building in one of the really nice parts of Los Angeles business district.

"The illegal trade business must be booming." G said as they got out of the car.

"Yeah. So, how do you want to play this G?" Sam had his own ideas, but would go with G's play.

"How about two federal agents completely pissed off that he just put out a kidnap order on their friend?" G offered.

"Works for me."

G and Callen walked past the large reception desk and over to the elevator.

"Why do criminals always have their offices on the top floor?"

Sam shook his head. "I don't know, you would think they would want it on the ground floor so they could jump out a window or something without having to get bottle necked on the stairs."

They entered the elevator and travelled to the third floor. As it turned out the law offices of Mr. Simons took up the whole floor. Both agents approached the reception desk and flashed there ids.

"This is agent Hanna, I'm agent Callen. We are here to see Mr. Simons."

The receptionist didn't appear the least bit intimidated. "Mr. Simons is in a meeting right now. If you want you can leave a message and he can get back to you at his earliest convenience."

"Yeah, I don't think so." Sam said as he and Callen walked down the hall toward the large double doors at the end. The receptionist followed after them yelling.

They opened the doors to the office without breaking stride. The man behind the desk looked up from his computer suddenly, but didn't looked overly surprised.

"I'm in the middle of an online meeting gentlemen. You can leave now and I won't have to involve the authorities or press charges."

"Cute." Sam responded.

"Mr. Simons, we are the authorities. You are coming with us." G explained.

"I don't think so. You want to talk to me, you schedule an appointment."

"We did and it's now. You can walk out with us or we can drag you out in cuffs." Sam reached behind him to get zip ties.

"I'll have your badges for this. I have powerful friends in LAPD."

Sam walked around the desk and pulled Simons's hand behind is back and began securing the cuffs.

Callen walked up next to him. "Good thing we are much higher up the food chain than LAPD."

Sam and G escorted him out of the building and down to the Challenger.

* * *

Granger was waiting on them when they arrived at the boat shed. Sam walked Simons into the interrogation room, while Callen went and approached Granger.

Granger decided to head this problem off before it began. "This is your show Callen. I just wanted to come down and watch. Sitting in OPS just waiting makes me cranky."

Callen smiled despite himself. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

Sam walked out of the interrogation room. "Ready?"

Callen looked up at him. "Yeah."

Sam and Callen had just entered the room and Callen had not even taken his seat yet when Simons spoke.

"I'm not saying anything. I want my phone call and I want my lawyer."

Callen just smiled. "Yeah, that's not going to happen."

Simons just smiled. "Look, I don't know what sort of low IQ morons you deal with on a daily basis, but I'm a lawyer. I know the law and I know my rights. So, let's dispense with the bull and you run along and get me what I asked for."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen." Callen repeated leaning back in his chair. "You see, this morning a group of foreign nationals attempted to kidnap a national security asset. In the process the individual in question was severely wounded. He died at the hospital this morning. Five of the six individuals involved in the attempt were also killed. The sixth survived and identified you as the person they were working for."

Callen had to hand it to the guy. He hadn't squirmed or made a reaction of any type. The problem was that was a giveaway in itself. A person not involved in a situation like this would have vehemently denied it by now. At the very least they would have appeared to be incredibly nervous. This guy looked like he was on the beach sipping umbrella drinks.

"So you see, all the normal laws and procedures don't apply. What you are looking at here is terrorism, murder, and violation of national security.

"That's quite the Tom Clancy novel you have there. I assume you have proof beyond some street thug that says I was involved?" Simons still had not so much as changed position in his chair.

Sam moved off from his position sitting on the table in the corner of the room, walking over and leaning on the table in front of Simons. "You mean like pulling apart you financials for the last two years? Even the account in the Caymans and the one in the United Arab Emirates? The ones that show transactions to a group in Mexico that specialize in kidnapping and ransom? Is that the sort of proof you want?"

The Nell and Eric had pulled Simons business and personal life apart while Sam and Callen had gone to get him. It would have been almost impossible to track if they hadn't had the account where kidnappers had received the money. From there they simply tracked the money from both ends and met in the middle.

Callen noticed that this little tidbit of information caused Simons's first shift in position. He hadn't expected it.

"So, you see we have you for sponsoring terrorism on American soil. The only play you have here is to tell us what we want to know and we decide how lenient to be with how you get treated."

* * *

Outside Granger smiled as he watched the suspect start to fidget in his seat. The smarter they thought they were the more spectacular the fall when they finally realized that had been caught.

Now they just had to get him to flip on the cartel. He didn't' think that would be such a hard thing to do after looking at the expressions on Sam's and G's faces.


	6. Turning the Tables

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* * *

Callen looked across the table at Simons. "We have your financial records paying for the kidnapping. You have been identified by individuals that attempted the kidnapping. During that kidnapping, the target was killed. You attempted to kidnap an individual vital to the national security of the United States. What were you intending to do with Stephen Alexander?"

Sam entered the conversation. "His area of expertise is a narrow specialty. Submarines, acoustics, sonar systems. A cartel could use information like that to create really nice subs to smuggle drugs, guns, whatever. Add to that you can also sell the information to interested parties around the world and that is one impressive chunk of change."

Callen pick up the questioning again. "How did you find out about Stephen Alexander? How did you find out what he did for a living?"

Simons didn't say a word. Prison was just part of the package in the world he lived in. He would keep the faith with 'Death's Head' and they would protect him in prison. If he ever got out they would welcome him back and set him up.

Callen knew the look he was seeing. It was allegiance and fear. Simons was loyal to his gang and in return the gang would take care of him. It was a very powerful loyalty. The thing was that loyalty in gangs didn't run both ways. The gang wasn't loyal to the individual. If it looked like it had been betrayed the gang didn't give a person a chance to defend themselves, it simply removed the problem.

"So, right now, we are making a little change to your Cayman Island account. It looks like you are receiving $50,000 dollars a month from a Department of Justice slush fund. On top of that several investigations that were quietly on going into your activities have been squashed. Also, word on the street is that the crew going after Stephen Alexander was given up, that's why he was armed and had body guards."

Callen and Sam both noticed the sweat break out on Simons's face. It was the first sure sign of distress the man had shown since entering the room. He knew exactly what would happen when that information made it back to Santiago. There wouldn't be anywhere for him to hide. He knew it.

"You think 'Death's Head' will believe your lies?"

Sam easily answered the question. "I think they have a business to protect. It's easier to put you down and move on than take the risk. Alvarez isn't exactly known for being Mr. Compassionate."

And just like that Isaac Simons's world of extreme wealth and power came crashing down into an eight by eight cell for the rest of his life. All he could do now was hope to get solitary confinement so that every member of 'Death's Head' and their brother organizations didn't get to him in prison.

Sam and Callen saw the resigned expression hit Simons's face at the same time quickly followed by the question that every suspect asked when they finally accepted their fate.

"What do you want to know?"

* * *

Callen's voice echoed around OPS.

"Apparently Simons has quite the little payroll of informants and snitches. He found out about Stephen Alexander from a law clerk who handled the filing of the original indictments of the arms dealer and leaker at Blue Abyss. It was the original non-redacted version. It had the boat house location listed. That's how they picked up on Deeks. They've been following for months, different cars and drivers every time. Never two days in a row. Once they figured out where he lived, they staked it out waiting for the right time. Real professional job. The plan was to get Mr. Alexander to help, either through bribery or force, design and build remote sub systems for them to both use and sell."

"Now the bad news." Sam cut in. "The decision came from Santiago, so all the information is still in play as well as the desire to get a stealth sub. Also, they know about the Shelby id. He says he doesn't know anything about a move against her."

"There hasn't been any activity from the accounts we are monitoring to indicate another group being hired." Eric said without even turning away from his workstation.

"The only way to insure Miss Jones safety is to end this definitely. We are going to have to take this to the source." Granger sounded angry. "We can't, however, move against Santiago directly while he is in Mexico. I'm not going to sit around and wait for a move to be made against Miss Jones. I'm open to ideas?"

"What if we move against Miss Jones, Owen?"

"What are you getting at Henrietta?"

"We stage the kidnapping of Miss Jones. We then offer her in trade for money, but require the exchange to be done on American soil. We bring Mr. Santiago to us."

"Why would he come here? If we push for that he will feel the trap." Callen really didn't like this plan.

"Either way it works for us Mr. Callen. If he declines then we kill Miss Jones, ending the threat against her and closing the loop on the fake documents."

"Win-win Henrietta? I don't believe in that sort of outcome."

"Come now Owen. Eventually luck has to turn in our favor."

* * *

Granger hit the disconnect button on the phone.

"This plan sucks." G said as soon as he was sure the line was dead. He didn't really care what Hetty thought, but he didn't want Nell to hear him.

"That's an understatement." Sam added.

"While I understand the need to sometimes play bait, the idea of using Miss Jones turns my stomach. Especially given the abject disaster that Hetty's Afghanistan plan was." Granger looked up at Sam and Callen like he had forgotten where he was. "If either of you ever repeat that, I'll deny it, and use my petty power as assistant director to make your lives miserable."

Sam and G both raised their hands in surrender with only slight smiles on their faces.

"How are we going to do the contact? Have Simons say he hired us?" Sam started spit balling.

"No. That leaves him as the middle man. We need direct access to Santiago." Granger countered.

"No, but if we claim that he engaged us and then got arrested, we go to Santiago for full payment." Callen corrected. "It completely removes the need to validate who or what we are. We will be freelancers that got hired and are stuck with merchandise we need to get rid of. We demand that Santiago show up at the drop so we don't end up like the last team."

Granger thought about it for a minute. "Yeah, that works. If he balks at the whole thing, we send evidence of the death of Shelby Reece."

"So he ends up in jail or we stop the attempts at getting the technology." Sam concluded.

"Man there is so much that can go wrong here." Granger said still running the scenario through his head.

* * *

As Granger, Callen, and Sam entered OPS, the screen Eric was staring at caught their attention. It was a website, written in Spanish, with a giant photo of Deeks, offering a reward for anyone with information about this whereabouts.

Sam was first to speak. "Is that a missing persons for Stephen Alexander?"

Eric turned to look at them. "Yes it is. It also represents my dwindling faith in humanity. This is how the job against Deeks was contracted. This is a missing person's site in Mexico. There are literally hundreds of sites like this given the big business kidnap for ransom is down there. This is a legitimate site, but I've found 27 "missing" postings for people who are not missing. Deeks alias was one of them. The reward offered is actually the contract price for the kidnapping."

"$100,000 for Deeks?" Callen let out a whistle. "Somebody is overpaying."

"Yeah, well, that's not the interesting part. If you look at the comments section your find mostly well-wishers and sympathy, but, look at this post. It says he's been sighted in LA, that they have an address and gives a number to call." Eric turned to the group. "That phone was one of the burn phones found on the bodies from last night."

"A missing person website being used to contract kidnappings. Just when I thought criminals couldn't dig any lower." Granger said shaking his head.

"Well, it gets worse. This went up 15 minutes ago." Eric hit some buttons and Nell's face appeared on screen. "Apparently they are still very interested. They've even upped the price, $250,000."

"It went up that quick after the Stephen Alexander death notification?" Sam queried. "We need to get Deeks out of that hospital to make sure no one notices. They have to be watching from somewhere."

"Wow. Gives her place of employment. Even says she's related to Stephen Alexander. We go ahead and respond? We don't want to appear too eager but we don't want anyone else going after Miss Jones." Granger looked at Callen.

"Yea, we respond. We can always claim we knew the crew that got taken down. Create a burn number to my phone. Have it alert as 'Shelby Reece'", Callen turned to Sam. "Well, at least something is going our way. We don't have to figure out how to contact them now."

"I don't think having a second kidnap order put out on another agent in twenty-four hours is good luck, G."

"I'm going to have to agree with agent Hanna on this one." Granger nodded toward Sam.

"Always glass half empty with you guys. Let's go warn Nell. She's down stairs with Hetty."

* * *

As she watched them come down the stairs Nell got a bad feeling about the conversation she was about to have. The fact that Granger started speaking first only added to sensation.

"Fifteen minutes ago the cartel put out a kidnap ransom on Shelby Reece. It came within an hour of the death announcement of Stephen Alexander. Eric is responding now and giving a burn number that will route to my phone." Callen shook the phone he was holding in his hand.

Nell wanted to be an agent. She wanted to work in the field. That being said, being a target was not exactly the way she wanted to get there. "So what now?"

"Now we wait for them to contact us." Callen answered. "Until this is over, you stay here Nell. If you need anything from your home we can get it for you." G saw her cheeks color a bit so he corrected. "We will escort Kensi to get it for you."

"And we move Deeks. That second order came out entirely too quickly. They've got people watching. " Sam concluded.

Hetty walked over to her desk and picked up her phone.

* * *

Kensi answered her phone on the first ring.

"Kensi."

Deeks watched her as she nodded her head and made affirmative grunts as the person on the other end of the line kept talking. Several time her eyes would dart up to him and then over to the door. Each time she did it, he found it was making him more and more nervous. When she finally hung up the phone, he couldn't take the suspense.

"What's up?"

"Apparently, the news of your death got out faster than everyone thinks it should have. It's possible that there is someone in the hospital with eyes on you." Kensi stuck her head out the door to speak to an orderly. "So we are going to be moving you out of here." Kensi walked over and started lowering the bed. "So you are going to play dead, the two orderlies are going to roll you down to the basement and then the two of us are going to walk right out the back door." As the bed became perfectly flat Kensi grabbed the sheet and draped it over Deeks being sure to cover his head. "Now, play dead."

"Woof."

"Good boy."

Twenty minutes later they were driving away from the rear entrance.

"Hey, can you go a little slower. I was shot last night you know."

"Suck it up shaggy. At least you are leaving in a car. The first time you walked out the front door into a gun fight and the second time you drove yourself to a gun fight. This time you are being driven to the safety of the mission with no gunfight."

"Touché. They make recovery look so easy on TV shows." Deeks said trying to get his sling adjusted so his shoulder would stop stinging. "Wait a minute. The mission? Why not home?"

"Is that a serious question? Deeks, this was hit, on you, at your house. You are never going back there. You are moving. To a nicer place I might add."

"What? So I am Callen now? Sleeping on a sofa at the Mission? What about Monty?"

"Stop whining Shaggy. Your team has your back." Kensi smiled her trade mark 'I have a secret' smile.

Deeks leaned his head back on the seat. "Oh Crap."

* * *

As they entered the Mission the first thing Deeks noticed was everyone at the desks crowed around a sitting Nell.

"There is no way this can be good." Deeks said walking up to the group.

"Welcome back." Sam said "Now go lay down on the sofa. You've been shot and shouldn't be out of the hospital, but we didn't have a choice. There will be some medics coming up from Pendleton to check on you."

"This", Hetty said indicating the group, "is the plan protect Miss Jones and end this. Secondarily we may capture a violent drug dealer and smuggler."

Kensi looked at Nell in that back at Hetty. "We aren't putting Nell in the open are we?"

Callen looked at Kensi, "Right now we've only left a contact number to call us back at. Details haven't been addressed yet. However, we are going to have to give proof of life if we have any intention of getting Santiago up here. She will have to be at whatever meeting is set up."

Nell noticed everyone was frowning, even Hetty. She looked around at everyone. "You aren't exactly inpiring me with confidence here guys. You are supposed to be telling me everything is ok, I'm going to be safe, nothing will happen to me."

"Miss Jones, you know the realities of this job, we can't make those sort of promises."

Nell turned around and looked Hetty directly in the eyes. "Lie to me."


	7. The Waiting

**I just wanted to get the feeling right in this chapter before the case really kicks off. I may have written Granger OC, but I like the character, so I give him the benefit of the doubt. I hope everyone isn't disappointed.**

**Thank you everyone for the favorites and follows. I really appreciate it. Please leave a review to let me know how I'm doing. I don't always answer back but I certainly read them and consider them.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own NCIS:LA.**

* * *

"Kensi?" Callen decided to change the subject. "Can you and Sam get a list from Nell here of anything she needs from her apartment and go and retrieve it for her?"

"Sure." Kensi wrapped her arm around Nell's shoulder and lead her away from the group. "Just tell me what you need."

"So how are you going to play the call?" Granger asked.

Callen actually had a good answer for that. "I'll say we were helping with surveillance. The crew that went after Deeks has worked in Phoenix before, I'll say we met there. That story should hold for what we are trying to get here."

Granger just sort of grunted. Callen took it as a sign of agreement. He walked over to his desk and sat down. The waiting was the worst. At least they were almost out in front of this thing. Deeks was secure. Nell was secure. They had a plan. Things were much better than they had been just twenty four hours ago.

* * *

"How's Deeks?" Sam asked Kensi as they headed toward Nell's place.

"A lot better than I am." Kensi said, too tired to give anything other than the absolute truth. "I wasn't there again Sam. A third time. I wasn't there." Kensi's head never turned from looking at the window.

There wasn't a lot Sam could say about that. He knew the feeling of guilt that came with thinking you had let those around you down. He had been there, more times than he cared to think about. It was a place you had to pull yourself out of. No one could help you if you didn't try to help yourself. But still, he couldn't just let the statement go unchallenged. "It wasn't your choice not to be there. He was just going home, you didn't leave him out in the field. You didn't fail him, Kensi. He's going to be OK, as long as you forgive yourself, everything else will be OK as well."

Kensi turned to look at Sam. "I didn't want to leave him alone at the Mission, Sam. It's the safest place he can be, and I didn't want him there alone. I didn't want him out of my sight." Kensi turned and looked back out the window. "I'm going to move him into my place while he looks for a new place to live."

Sam wasn't exactly surprised by this. "Have you told him yet?"

"No."

"Are you going to before you drive him home and take him inside?"

"I haven't decided."

Sam took a quick glance at her then looked back at the road. He drove another block before asking the obvious. "Do you want him to find a new place?"

Kensi just looked over at Sam smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

Sam laughed quietly and shook his head.

A few minutes later they pulled into Nell's driveway. As they got out of the car a thought occurred to Sam

"Why am I here?"

"Huh?" Kensi said as she reached the door while removing Nell's key from her pocket.

"Well, I'm certainly not about to go into Nell's bedroom and I refuse to go through any of her clothes. So, besides driving the car, why am I here?"

"To watch my back of course." With that Kensi opened the door and entered her house. "Whoa."

Sam just reacted and rushed in directly behind Kensi expecting to see trouble but everything looked fine.

"What? Nothing looks out of place."

"Exactly. Look how clean this place is." Kensi walked by the little table near the front door and ran her finger over it. "There isn't even dust." She said showing Sam her clean finger.

Sam started laughing. "You have been to her house before, right?"

"Stop laughing and yes I've been here before, but I thought she had picked up because she was expecting company. I didn't realize it always looked like this." Kensi turned toward Nell's bedroom sighing deeply. "I really am a slob." Kensi immediately whirled on Sam. "You don't repeat that to anyone. Especially Deeks."

Sam was not about to antagonize an angry Kensi. "I didn't hear anything."

* * *

Deeks wasn't exactly asleep but was resting very comfortably. It was definitely the pills that were allowing him to rest so well. He knew the minute the pills wore off he was going to be a mess again. He was contemplating what he was going to do when that happened. He didn't know where Kensi had put them.

"Hey Shaggy."

Deeks couldn't help but smile. "Hey there, Velma." He opened his eyes and looked at Nell. Even in his drug induced haze he could tell something was wrong. He tried to sit up but the drugs weren't that good. "Oof"

"Lay down Shaggy. You are going to pull a stich."

"Big deal. I always pull a stich. Usually I get in a gun battle as well."

"I would like to avoid gun battles if you don't mind."

"If I told you to stop worrying, would it help?"

"No. This isn't like the other times. Those just sort of happened. This, I've been thinking about this for a while now. All the things that can go wrong. I'm deliberately going somewhere to get shot at."

Deeks turned his head. "Nell, the team has you. Callen, Sam, and Kensi will keep you safe. You stay near them, you trust them, and you will come through this." Deeks took a deep breath. "Sorry you have to do this Nell. I should be the one to draw the bad guys out."

"You can say it Deeks. Bait. I'm bait."

"No. You are not bait. Bait is dead or gets killed in the process of getting a larger predator. You are a decoy. You are the trap. You come back here. Then we go get a beer. Then you go home."

"Yes sir." Nell said with a laugh.

"With Eric."

"Marty."

Deeks just smiled, closing his eyes affectively ending the conversation.

Nell let out a breath and rolled her eyes. "Great talk."

As she walked away she heard. "I suck at communication, just ask Kensi."

* * *

Callen walked up the stairs back to OPS and found Eric hunched over his keyboard.

"Any more messages on the site?"

Eric didn't look up. "Nope. A few visits but they all look legit. People just trying to help other people."

"Yeah, it's easy to forget that there are just genuine good people out there sometime." Callen turned to leave. "Well let me know if anything changes."

Eric looked up from his monitor. "Callen?"

G stopped right before walking out the door. He turned and looked at the analyst.

Eric paused for a minute. "Please don't let anything happen to her."

G looked Eric right in his eyes. "The team has her Eric. We will keep her safe. She's been in the field before. She can handle this."

"What if something goes wrong?"

Callen walked back in OPS and waited for the door to close. When it did he hit the electronic locks effectively isolating the room from the rest of the mission. He saw the color drain from Eric's face and put his hands up in surrender.

"Calm down Eric. Calm down." Callen walked back over toward Eric. "Eric, I know this is different for you. You view Nell differently, both professionally and personally, and there is nothing wrong with that."

"I feel a but coming." Eric cut in.

"But, you cannot talk to Nell like that. She is already nervous as it is. She has been a in the field and she has training, what she needs is confidence. You, being over protective and voicing everyone's fears will not help her. She can't afford to doubt herself." Callen placed his hand on Eric's shoulder. "We will take care of her."

"OK."

Callen took his hand off Eric's shoulder. "We good?"

"Yeah, yeah. We're good."

With that Callen walked over to the door, his the locks, opened the door, and walked out of OPS.

* * *

Granger walked over and stood in front of Hetty's desk.

Hetty finished a sip of her tea and set it back down in the saucer before looking up at the man.

"Yes Owen?"

"Miss Jones looks like she about ready to bolt, Hetty. On top of that, this plan has some serious holes in it."

"I'm not overly fond of the plan myself, if you have a better idea that doesn't involve using any of my agents as a decoy, please, share with me."

Granger grunted. "No Henrietta. I don't have a better idea. I've been trying to think of one, but I can't think of another way to end this so that six months down the road they don't try and abduct her again."

"And therein lies the crux of our problem."

Granger watched Nell walk up the stairs to OPS. "You think she is ready for it?"

"Are you every ready to be shot at or risk your life?"

"Now is not the time for your Jedi mind games Hetty. You know what I mean. Don't you think we've done enough damage to this team? Callen, Deeks, Hanna, Blye. Do we really need to start damaging the analyst?"

"Why Owen, I didn't know you cared."

Granger stood up from the desk and leaned on it staring into Hetty's eyes. "Dammit Hetty. Do not screw with me on this. I know the risk and I now the job more often than not calls for it, but do not, for one second, think it doesn't burn me to my core when it happens."

Hetty took a deep breath. "Owen, Agent Blye was not your fault. That is on me."

"Yeah? You weren't the one that promised her father you would keep her safe and then took her to a war zone where she got captured by terrorist." Granger leaned back up off the desk and rubbed his temples. "Let's deal with the problem we can affect and not the past."

"Alright Owen. Miss Jones…"

"We need to go over rules of engagement. Miss Jones never leaves the teams care. There will be no handover of any kind."

"Agreed."

"The rest we figure out after the phone call."

* * *

Sam and Kensi walked back into the Mission with Kensi pulling Nell's suitcase behind her. Kensi took the suitcase over to her desk and set it beside it. Sam looked her as he started up the stairs.

"You coming?" Sam asked.

Kensi looked and saw Deeks still lying on the sofa he was at when they left. "I'll be there in a minute."

Sam nodded in understanding. "Alright."

Sam went up the stairs and walked into OPS. He was surprised that Hetty and Granger weren't there.

"I assume that they haven't called since you haven't said anything."

Callen turned at the sound of Sam's voice. "No, they have not. Eric says that there hasn't been but a couple of visits since you left. They most likely haven't check the site again yet."

Eric spoke up. "Yea. The visitors are different than all the previous visitors as well. Looks like people just browsing the site."

Sam grunted in frustration. "The sooner they call the sooner we have a workable plan. This waiting is really starting to get on my nerves."

Nell spoke up from her station. "How do you think I feel?"

G shot Sam a disapproving look. Sam winced.

"Sorry Nell. I know this can't be easy for you. But we've got you, you know that right?" Sam walked over to where she was. "If things look to dicey we come up with another plan. We aren't just going to send you out there and see what happens. We are out front and you are behind us where we can keep you safe."

Nell looked up from the workstation. "I know Sam. This just isn't the way I thought I would be an agent. I always assumed I would be proactive. Not bait."

Kensi walked in the OPS center and caught Nell talking about bait. She could read Sam's and Callen's face getting a feel for the tension in the room.

"Hey it could be worse." Kensi tossed out. "You could always be a honey trap."

Nell laughed a little. "Yeah, having some big, sweaty, smelly guy pawing all over me would suck."

Kensi looked at her growing serious. "That's not the worst part. The worst part are the ones who are good looking, smooth, and smell good. Your mind and your body get all confused and you have to remember the job and forget you hormones and instincts."

"Suddenly, being shot at doesn't sound so bad." Nell responded.

Callen walked around behind Kensi whispering. "What the hell sort of pep talk was that?"

The questioning look from Sam said the same thing.

Kensi frowned and looked around the room. "Sorry. It's been a weird day." She quickly changed the subject. "Nell, I've got a suitcase of your things down at my desk. I didn't know where you wanted it."

Nell started walking toward the door with Kensi following. "I'll just bring it up here. I don't know that I'm going to get much sleep tonight."

As they walked down the stairs Kensi tried to apologize. "Sorry about that Nell. I really wasn't trying to make things worse."

Nell stopped on the stairs turning toward Kensi. "Actually Kens, I appreciate the honesty. If I heard one more alpha male 'protect the little lady' pep talk I would probably shoot myself."

"They don't want you to worry and they don't like throwing us out there. Being alpha males kind of make them feel that way. They are built to be over protective. The job just makes it worse." Kensi paused for a second, like she was going to say something else but stopped. She grabbed Nell's hand and led her to the gym and into the lady's locker room. She made sure it was empty then turned to Nell.

"Nell, there is still a lot of guilt floating around from what's happened in the last two years. Deeks and Sam got tortured, the mess that was and fallout from Afghanistan. What happened to Michelle. What happened to Deeks, again." Kensi took a breath. "That guilt is going make us over react and be over protective. Just let us and trust us. We will keep you safe. Alright?"

Nell just looked at Kensi and let her words settle in. "Alright Kensi. Alright." Nell gave Kensi and hug. Kensi returned it.

"Let's get back up to OPS." Nell suggested.

"Right." Kensi said as she led the way back to OPS.

* * *

Back in OPS, Callen's phone let out a shrill tone. Callen, Sam, and Eric all looked at it. The screen clearly said 'Shelby Reece'.

"Here we go." Callen said as he hit the answer button. "Yes?"


	8. Kick Off

**Now we are moving the story forward. I'm a little iffy about the last part of the story. I want to hear everyone's thoughts on the chapter, but on that part specifically. See it I've got right.**

**Thank you everyone for the follows, favorites and reviews. Keep them coming.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA**

* * *

"You have information about my sister Shelby Reece?" The voice on the phone immediately questioned.

"Yes. I have information on Shelby Reece."

"You found her very quickly."

The conversation continued as Callen had expected. "We found her when helping search for your brother."

"Really? I never heard back from the individuals who said they had found my brother."

"You aren't going to and if you treat me the way their contact treated them you will never hear back from me either."

"Excuse me?"

"The previous person looking for you brother double crossed the people I was working with. That's why you won't be hearing from them. A trap was set and they fell into it. As soon as it happened their contact disappeared. I don't plan on ending up like them."

Silence reigned on the other end for a few moments.

"What happed to the people that found my brother?"

"Your brother was armed and had two bodyguards when they made contact. Two days previously neither of those things was true."

"Do you have proof?"

"I've got six dead associates, your dead brother, and one missing client." Callen started to sound angry.

"What makes you think I'm not the same person?"

"That's where it's win-win for me. If you are on the level I make $250,000.00. If you are the same guy, and you cross me, I get to send you to hell on a shutter."

Sam looked at Callen mouthing "Hell on a shutter?"

Callen sort of cringed and mouthed back "I saw it in a movie."

Sam just shook his head.

"How soon can you make contact with my sister?"

"48 hours." Callen responded.

"I'll text you a number. Contact me when you have her. We can discuss your payment when you return my sister back to me."

With that the line when dead.

Callen and Sam shared a look.

"Wow!" Eric exclaimed causing Callen and Sam to stare at him. "Was that the most intense conversation ever or was that just me?" Eric looked back and forth between the two men waiting for an answer.

"Eric." Callen said as he looked at Eric, "Remember when we talked about staying calm and relaxed so as not to upset Nell."

Eric started shaking his head up and down. "Right, right. Sorry Callen."

"Well, let's go down stairs and bring everyone else in on this." Sam turned to Eric. "Can you keep it together while we go over this?"

"Yes. Calm. Collected." Eric said in what wasn't exactly an even tone.

Sam and G just looked at one another. "Just stay here." Sam said to Eric. With that they turned to leave.

* * *

The look Hetty threw over Granger's shoulder caused him to turn catching Callen and Sam quickly walking up to Hetty's desk.

"First contact." Callen stated without preamble. "I planted the seed that the first team was sold out by someone on their side. I gave a 48 hour window to kidnap Miss Reece and then we contact them back with a number they are going to send to this phone." As if on cue, Callen's phone sounded a tone letting him know he had received a text message. He looked at the device. "And there is the number to call for verification."

"At least the waiting is over." Granger said. "Now all we have to do is stage a kidnapping."

"When?" Hetty asked eyeing the three men in front of her.

"Tomorrow morning." Sam offered. "We have Nell go home tonight and do the abduction in the morning when she leaves for work."

"Well, the incident with Deeks made the news. We are going to have to plant some sort of story about the abduction to keep up appearances." Granger offered. "I have a guy at the paper and local station. They can throw it up on the web. No problem."

About that time Kensi and Nell returned from the gym.

Hetty stood from her desk. "Miss Jones. The kidnappers have made contact. Tonight you will go home and tomorrow morning Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna will abduct you. Try not to make too much of a scene. It needs to be believable but I would prefer not having to explain what we are doing to the LAPD."

Granger smiled. "If it makes it to the LAPD, make the liaison do it. He's not busy." He turned and looked at Deeks snoring softly on the sofa. "Why does he remind me of a stray dog?"

"Hey!" Kensi shot Granger an evil glare.

"Without your father here, someone has to be disapproving of the men you date." Granger flashed a rare smile.

Sam couldn't help himself. "It's the fleas." Kensi and Nell each gave him a disapproving look. "What? It's a force of habit." He lowered his head trying to look contrite. "Sorry."

"I thought it was funny." Callen backed up his partner.

"So did I." Granger offered.

Kensi glared at all of them but didn't say a word.

Hetty moved the conversation back to the mission at hand. "Are you prepared Miss Jones?"

Nell looked at Hetty considering her words. Ready really didn't matter. This was going to happen and she needed to get her head together and pull her weight. "Yes. I'm good."

* * *

Eric was quickly typing away at his keyboard when everyone entered ops. He quickly turned in his seat. "OK, I didn't attempt to trace the call because I didn't want to alert anyone, but I did look at the IP addresses that hit the website just before we received the call. Everything looked normal until I hit this one." Eric hit some buttons on his table causing a number to appear on the screen. "This is from a VPN in Mexico City."

Kensi raised his hand. "A what?"

Nell continued. "Think of it as an imaginary cyber café. You take your computer and then log into the imaginary cyber café. After you log in everything you do in the outside world looks like it's coming from the cyber café and not your computer so you can't be traced."

"Unless," Eric continued. "You have some very sweet software from the NSA. Basically it logs into the VPN fooling the system into thinking you are an administrator. Then after that you can access the …"

"Mr. Beale." Hetty said getting his attention. "The highlights please."

"Right. The origination IP address is coming from a legitimate company owned by one Eduardo Salazar. He is the right hand of Santiago in Mexico."

"Well, at least we have their attention." Callen sighed.

"Yeah. Now we are back to waiting." Granger didn't sound pleased, but then he never did. "But at least it's on our time table."

* * *

With a plan in place but hours before it would be executed everyone filtered out of OPS to busy themselves. Callen hung back as he watched Nell.

Nell wasn't sure what Callen was up to but could tell something was on his mind. She also realized he wasn't going to talk to her about it in front of Eric. She let out a small puff of air. This was getting ridiculous. She didn't need another pep talk. It was just making the whole situation worse. And her own nerves were making her react badly to everyone else. Nell turned and walked out of OPS with just one glance over her shoulder to make sure that Callen was following her. She walked around to an unused corner of the top floor and whirled on Callen.

"Stop hovering. Stop treating me like a child. I've been in the field before and I did a good job. Why is everyone suddenly treating me like a kid? I understand everyone is on edge but you and everyone are making me nuts."

Callen looked at her with the trademark unreadable expression. "Feel better?"

"Yes, yes I do."

"Good. Now can we talk about tomorrow?"

Nell was confused and stammered her answer. "Wh-what?"

"Tomorrow morning me, Sam, and Kensi are going to abduct you from your home. We need to go over what is going to happen."

Nell's face turned a little pink. "That's what you wanted to talk about?"

"Yes it was, but you should always feel like you can come to me Nell. You are part of the team."

"Right. Thank you Callen. I appreciate it."

"Not a problem. Now, can we talk about your kidnapping? I would prefer that you not injure me or Sam tomorrow."

"What about Kensi?"

"You can't injure Kensi."

"Because I'm small and not a full-fledged agent?" Nell puffed up."

"No, because she's Kensi. Going hand to hand with her is suicide."

* * *

Kensi walked over to where Deeks was still sleeping on the sofa. She got down on her knees and brushed his hair off his forehead. His eyes opened slowly.

"Hey beautiful." He said.

"Hey shaggy. You need to get up."

"Why?"

"One, you can't keep sleeping on this sofa. Two, you have to take your pain meds. Three, there is a cot set up for you upstairs."

Deeks became alert at that statement. "Wait, how long have I been asleep? What time is it? Has anything happened yet? How's Nell?"

Kensi placed her hand on Deeks's chest. "Slow down. You've only been asleep for a couple of hours. The guys funding the kidnapping just called a little bit ago. Nell is here and fine. She will be going home tonight and in the morning me and the guys are going to kidnap her."

Deeks used his good arm to lever himself up. "She's going home?"

"Yeah. We are going to stake the house out tonight, 'kidnap' her in the morning, and then bring her back here. After that we set up the exchange." Kensi stood up. "But that's isn't your concern. You are going upstairs to rest and hopefully sleep. I'll see you first thing in the morning." She handed Deeks the bottle and two pain pills.

"Thanks." Deeks took the two pills with the water and tossed the pills in to his mouth, swallowing with a drink of water.

Kensi grabbed his good arm and shoulder helping him off the sofa. "Come on. I'll help you to your cot."

"I really miss the slutty nurse costume."

"I don't have a slutty nurse costume."

"This day just keeps getting worse."

Kensi really tried not to laugh. She really tried but it just slipped out. She saw the sparkle in Deeks eyes and had to put a stop to that train of thought. "That was a pity laugh Deeks. It's never going to happen. Ever." Even as the words left her mouth she had the feeling that one day, much sooner than she ever believed, it would absolutely happen.

* * *

An hour later Nell walked out to her Mini to drive home. Callen, Sam, and Kensi followed behind her in a completely blacked out Tahoe. Anyone who saw the kidnapping would report the same vehicle as was used in the attempt on Deeks. As Nell pulled into her driveway, Sam pulled the Tahoe along a curb several houses away.

Once Nell made into the house Callen got out of the truck.

"I'm going to go around back. Just cause they contacted us doesn't mean there isn't someone else here."

Sam nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah better safe than sorry."

Kensi saw Nell close her door. "Nell, you on comm."

"Yep, I'm here. Everybody else on?"

"Yes." Callen responded.

"Here." Sam followed.

"OPS is on." Eric responded.

"Good." Nell answered. "Eric, I'm going to set up the cameras. Let me know when you get picture."

"Absolutely."

Nell walked around her house setting up cameras on the doors, a couple of the windows and the hallway to her bedroom.

"They are all coming crystal clear Nell."

That's when Hetty came online. "As ridiculous as it sounds, Miss Jones, please attempt to get a good night's rest. You will be the only fully functioning team member tomorrow."

Nell let out a small laugh. "Yes, Hetty."

"How…" Then the sound stopped abruptly. Nobody seemed sure who the noise came from.

Hetty smiled. "He's resting comfortably Kensi. There is a medic with him now. They apologized for being so late. If anything happens you will know. Now, please concentrate on Miss Jones."

"Thanks. Sorry Hetty. Sorry Nell." Kensi responded.

* * *

Granger stood in OPS staring at the camera feeds and listing to comms. He muted his mic. "I don't like this. I say we execute now and pull her back here." Granger shook his head at himself. "I must be going soft at my old age."

"While I appreciate your intentions, Owen, we stick to the plan. We need to be sure that nobody else is watching Miss Jones. This won't do us any good if there is a second team."

"Don't you ever get tired of being right?" Granger said looking her in the eye.

"Every day, Owen. Everyday." Hetty smiled.

* * *

Callen was sitting down leaned up against a tree in deep shadow behind Nell's house. He didn't like the operation. He had been trying not to think about why he didn't like this operation, but just sitting here watching was giving him plenty of time to think.

None of the reasons that came to him were rational. In fact, several of them were not just irrational but bordered on the ridiculous.

Callen shook his head clear. The almost failures of the last two years were eating at him. Sam and Deeks getting taken still weighed on his mind. Then there was the mess in Afghanistan. That hadn't been his fault, but not being there to back up Kensi was still a black mark as far as he was concerned. If this got messed up and something happened to Nell...he simply wasn't going to let that happen.

He stretched his legs and got comfortable to wait out the night.


	9. Crimes

**Thank you everyone for reading. I really appreciate the reviews. Keep them coming.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own NCIS:LA**

* * *

Several hours later Callen's mood hadn't improved. Quite the opposite actually. The number of things that could go wrong on this operation seemed to increase every time he thought about it. It only bothered him more when he realized how much he was obsessing about all this. It wasn't like him to be like this. He had been in much worse situations than this. This whole stake out was solely a better safe than sorry action. There was absolutely no evidence that anyone but them was after Shelby Reece. Even if there were, everyone on the team had been in situations much worse than spending the night in their own home with three agents keeping watch.

A sound over the comms brought him out of his brooding.

"Crap. It's too early to be kidnapped." Nell grunted. "Let me get a shower and dressed, then you can abduct me."

"Wow." Sam exclaimed. "She's as good a morning person as you Kensi." There was a moment of silence. "I'm not Deeks. You hit me I'm hitting back."

"You think you can take me?" Kensi challenged.

Sam started laughing. "No, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to roll over like your partner. At least they will be able to identify my attacker by the skin under my fingernails."

The banter made Callen feel better. "Alright guys, I'm coming back. Go ahead and let Kensi drive. Sam get ready to do the deed."

"Gotcha G." Sam replied.

G was just standing up when Kensi came back on the net. "Callen there is someone coming across the yard headed for the side of the house."

Callen stayed where he was watching the corner of the house. Moments later he saw the shadow he was waiting for come around the side head toward the rear of the house. "I've got him."

"I'm coming to you G."

"I've got it Sam." Callen slowly made his way toward the figure staying in the shadows, finally coming up behind the man as he stood at the back of Nell's house.

"Nell." G heard Kensi come on the comms. "Where are you?"

"My bathroom." She answered.

"Stay there." Kensi answered.

Callen had finally gotten around behind the suspect and decided it was better to be more hammer than feather. The quicker he ended this the better. He sprinted the last few feet wrapping the man in a strangle hold. The guy struggled for a minute before finally going limp. Callen laid him down gently and started going through is pockets. That's when he noticed what the guy was wearing and what he was holding in his hand.

"Ah, shit."

About that time Sam came running around the side of the house with his gun out.

"What?!" Sam asked.

Callen shook his head standing up. "I just chocked out a gas meter reader."

Sam decided not to laugh. The situation was too serious. "A meter reader? They still do that?"

"Uh, yeah. They put in a new demand side meter and it sends back data automatically. It can also control the amount of gas I'm allowed to use. They have to read it from time to time to make sure it is accurate." Nell supplied. "I have a letter from the company on the kitchen table. Sorry."

"Nell, we wouldn't expect you to remember anything like that." Callen supplied.

Sam looked at Callen. "Now what?"

"Nell, time to shag it. We have to get you out of here before he comes too. Hand me your flex cuffs, Sam."

Sam handed over the flex cuffs and Callen did up the man's hands. Both men grabbed him under his arms and leaned him up against the house.

"Eric, just to be sure that this guy alright. As soon as we leave, contact the authorities with an anonymous tip."

Sam stood up straight. "Nell you ready?"

"Putting my shoes on now." There were a couple moments of silence. "Alright, I'm ready to come out."

Sam and Callen both put on ski mask. They didn't want to end up on cell phone cameras. "Alright, we are coming around the house now." Callen said as Sam followed him around the house. "Go ahead and come out, walk to your car, but don't look behind you."

"Right."

Everybody heard the door shut over the comm. Sam and Callen watched her walk out to her car and they rushed up behind her. Callen threw the bag over her head, Sam put the restraints on her hands, and Callen put her over his shoulder as they walked to the end of the driveway.

Kensi pulled to a stop slowly and cleanly. Sam hopped into the passenger seat while Callen put Nell in the back seat and then got in behind her. As the Callen shut the door Kensi pulled away from the curb.

"Operation completed." Callen said over the comm net.

"Yeah, now can you take the bag off my head and free my hands?" Everyone heard Nell. There were several laughs that followed her statement.

"Sorry Nell." Callen said as he removed the hood and cut the cuffs. "Everything good?"

Nell looked up at Callen a little put off by the concern in his eyes. "I'm good. For a kidnapping this has been incredible uneventful."

Sam turned around to look at them in the back seat. "You didn't choke out a gas meter reader."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Callen grumbled. "I don't suppose there is any way I can you guys not to tell Deeks about this?"

Kensi let out a snort laugh. "Oh, not a chance. This is going to keep him going for weeks."

"Thanks Kensi. I appreciate that."

"You laughed at the flea joke. Consider this payback."

* * *

As the four entered the mission Hetty and Granger were waiting on them.

"How was your kidnapping dear?" Hetty asked.

"I don't really have anything to compare it to," Nell said with a smile, "but, for my first experience, it wasn't that bad."

"We aim to please." Callen said sitting down at this desk.

"Alright, Blye, Callen, Hanna, you've all been awake all night. Grab a couple hours of rest and then we will contact the traffickers." Callen went to argue. "I know you don't sleep Callen, but you are going to be turning over Miss Jones, and I would prefer everyone have some rest. Even Mr. Beale is about to sack out. We set up cots in the gym."

Sam was already headed to the gym. Nell headed up the stairs to relieve Eric. Callen turned and followed Sam into the gym. Hetty and Granger watched Kensi head up the stairs and then make a turn at the top to go to the corner that Deeks was still resting in.

"You see, Owen." Hetty said to Granger.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Granger grunted as he headed to his desk.

* * *

Kensi was pleasantly surprised to see another cot setup next to Deeks. She took off her shoes and the jacket she was wearing and laid down on the cot beside him. She reached over gently brushing his hair from his face. She wanted to talk to him, but he was resting so peacefully, she didn't dare wake him up. She pulled her hand back curling them under her head like a pillow.

"Love you, Shaggy." She said as she blinked her eyes.

The last thing she saw before drifting off to sleep was Deeks smiling face.

* * *

Callen laid awake on the cot staring at the ceiling. This was one of those rare times when he envied his snoring partners ability to fall asleep on cue. He had known agents and soldiers throughout his career that could do it. He had never really considered it an asset until this very moment. He would much rather be asleep right now than thinking. Something about this whole operation had him feeling off balance. He couldn't tell what it was though, and that was making it even worse. He had been in life threating situations where he believed he wasn't going to make it and it didn't feel this bad. This felt like Siderov. This felt like Afghanistan. This felt wrong.

"If it feels wrong, it is wrong." Callen whispered to himself, recalling the words he had said to Deeks a little over twenty-four hours ago. He folded his hands behind his head and continued to stare at the ceiling. Granger and Hetty were right. He needed at least a few hours of sleep to be ready for what was coming. With that thought, he closed his eyes, slipping into unconsciousness.

* * *

Nell sat down beside Eric and he didn't even move.

"Eric?" No response. "Eric!" Still no response. She leaned over and poked his shoulder. Eric nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Holy crap! Nell! When did you come in?"

"I've been calling your name. You didn't even move." Nell said looking at him concerned. "You need to go get some rest. Cots have been set up in the gym. Callen and Sam are already there."

Eric looked around OPS with his eyes glazed over. "Yeah." He turned and looked at Nell finally. She noticed that his eyes weren't focusing that well. "You sure you don't need any help?"

"No." Nell reached over pulling his tablet out of his hands. "I'm good. I've got this and you will be back in a few hours."

"Yeah, that sounds really good. I'll go rest." With that Eric left the room.

Nell turned around in her seat to look at her computer screen. As she started typing she realized that this was the first time she had been alone in several hours. Even asleep in her home she had in the ear wig so that she could hear the team and they could hear her. But, finally, here she was, alone with her own thoughts.

"Miss Jones."

Nell didn't squeal, but she did jump in her chair causing her to drop her tablet. She turned her chair trying to look as calm as possible.

"Yes Hetty?"

For her part, Hetty didn't acknowledge Nell's surprise. "When the team is rested we will be making the call to the Death's Head. Regardless of the circumstances of the meet, I want you to where a vest, with the ballistic plates installed."

"Uhm, Ok." Nell responded. Now she was nervous. Hetty routinely sent the team into dangerous situations. The only wore body armor on raids. Most of the time they had nothing. The fact that Hetty felt the need to put her in a vest with plates made her wonder if she was missing something.

"Miss Jones. We aren't going to hand you over. It's hard to gage the reaction of a group like Death's Head when they don't get what they want, but I'm sure it will be violent. I just want to take every possible precaution."

"I understand." That is what Nell said but, what she was thinking was that if everyone kept acting this way she was going to need another pep talk from Kensi.

* * *

Two and half hours later, Callen's eyes sprang open. Sam was still sleeping quietly beside him. On the other side of Sam, Eric was asleep as well, but not nearly as quietly. G got off the cot and walked into the men's locker room. He thought about taking a shower, but decided to just change shirts and wash his face. Everyone kept several change of clothes at the Mission. Just part of the job.

After feeling more awake he exited the locker room on his way to OPS. As the door slid open he was surprised to find only Nell there, sitting at her station, typing away. She turned to look at him as he entered.

"Anything exciting happen?" Callen asked.

"No. It's kind of scary actually. Things have been calm for quite a while now. It's make me nervous."

"Occasionally we deserve the odd easy day."

* * *

Kensi awoke to the sound of her phone. As she woke up all she could think was anyone who would call her could just walk over to the cot and tap her shoulder. She looked over to see Deeks still sleeping.

"Agent Blye." She answered.

"Agent Blye. This is Captain Bates from LAPD. Do you know where Det…Agent Deeks is?"

"Yes. I'm looking right at him." Kensi couldn't think of a good reason for Deeks old boss to be calling her.

"Are you alright? Do you need back up?"

Now Kensi was officially worried. "No, we are good. What's going on Captain?"

"Thank god. Last night Deeks's apartment was broken into and completely torn apart. Whoever did it was looking for something and now thinks he is LAPD because they found some of his uniforms. If you are currently working a case, he's been made as a cop. LAPD is still working the scene. We haven't put the call out on the radio nor have we filed anything in the system. I didn't want to burn Deeks or anyone else for that matter, if you guys were under. I've been looking for Marty to contact him but couldn't. I finally managed to find your number to call you. If some of your people want to get in on this, just show up. No pissing contest, I swear."

The cloudy grogginess that had been floating in her head was now completely gone. Not letting Marty go back to his place now counted as the single best decision she had made in her life. "Yes. Yes, of course we will be there. Let me contact my boss and she can contact you. Thank you very much Captain."

"No problem. Just keep a look out for Deeks."

"Absolutely." With that the line went dead.

She shook her head then reached over gently tapping Deeks's good shoulder.

"Deeks. Deeks."

"What?" He answered slowly coming too. "What's up? What time is it?"

"It's early morning. We've got to go find Granger and Hetty. Someone broke into your apartment last night and tore it apart. Whoever did it knows you are a cop because they found your LAPD uniforms."

Deeks used his good arm to reach his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Crap. Two guesses who did that. That means if I'm blown then Nell's blown. They will probably be suspicious of you guys as well."

"Yeah." Kensi stood up then reached over to help Deeks up. "Come on. We have to go tell everyone. This is going to change the game.


	10. Change in Plans

**And here is our next chapter. I hope that you like it. I'm not trying to drag things out. I just want to shore everything up.**

**To the 80 people following, thank you very much, and for the favorties, thank you as well.**

**In a couple of the reviews people suggested ideas for other stories and or changes on this story. Please write them. I would love to read the other ideas that are out there. I'm honored that something I've written gave you and idea to write.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.**

* * *

After helping Deeks up, both of them walked downstairs to Hetty's desk. Hetty was sitting at her desk working when the pair walked up.

"I'm surprised to see the two of you so soon. You've only had a little over two hours of sleep, Miss Blye."

"Hetty, we have a problem." Kensi began. "Captain Bates just called me. Someone broke into Deeks apartment early this morning. Whoever did it found some of Deeks LAPD uniforms, so they know he's a cop."

Hetty didn't say anything, she simply picked up her phone and began dialing. She didn't even give Bates time to respond before she began speaking. "Captain Bates, Agent Blye informed me that Mr. Deeks apartment was broken into. Have you told anyone you've spoken to Agent Blye?"

"No, I have not. I just hung up the phone. I was just happy about the…

Hetty interrupted him before he could finish the sentence. "I regret to inform you that DETECTIVE Deeks has succumb to wounds he received during a shootout near his apartment."

Kensi and Blye gave one another questioning looks.

"Detective Deeks?" It took Bates a moment to realize what Hetty was trying to convey. "He was the one involved in the shootout near his place the other night?"

"Yes. I'm afraid that DETECTIVE Deeks was shot twice in the chest. DETECTIVE Deeks was rushed to the hospital, but there was nothing that could be done. Any inquiries handled by the LAPD should state as such."

"I understand Miss Lange. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Yes. Please keep a look out for anyone asking questions about a Shelby Reece. You can contact me at this number."

Hetty immediately hung up the phone and picked it back up. "Miss Jones? Please summon everyone to the OPS center."

Hetty finally looked up from the desk at the two Agents in front of her. "You two, come with me."

* * *

Bates hung up the phone. It had taken him a minute to catch on, especially after the deadly ninja woman had said he was fine, but if Hetty wanted Deeks to be considered dead, then he would be.

"Marty, whatever you have gotten into I certainly hope you are careful." He reached over and picked up the phone. He needed to get the ball rolling on the idea that Deeks had been killed in a gun battle two day ago.

* * *

After Callen was elected to wake Sam and bring him upstairs, everyone was finally in OPS, including Granger.

"Things have changed." Hetty said. "Last night Agent Deeks's apartment was broken into. Whoever did it knows that Deeks is an LAPD detective."

That caused somber expressions and questioning looks to pass between all the individuals gathered.

"No one is going to go to Mr. Deeks's apartment. It is most certainly under surveillance. Anyone who shows up will be considered a police officer. I've spoken with Captain Bates, LAPD is going to confirm that Detective Deeks died in the gun battle that occurred two nights ago. He is also going to keep an eye out for anyone asking questions about Shelby Reece."

Sam sighed. "So it's fifty-fifty whether or not we've been made."

Granger answered. "Yes, but Miss Jones has definitely been identified as LAPD. If they believe that killing everyone at a handover just to get to her may be acceptable."

"We still need to make contact." Callen insisted. "Maybe we can get a feel for where they stand. At the very least we help present ourselves as not being cops."

Granger and Hetty exchanged a look before Hetty answered. "Yes, but regardless of what they say or do, the object of this operation is to secure Miss Jones safety. Now that she has been made as a police officer, the only way to insure her safety now is to have her die in their presence and have them report back that she is dead."

Granger turned to Deeks. "It goes without saying that you don't leave this building until this is over."

"Great, so now I'm homeless, stuff-less, and freedom-less." Deeks moaned.

"You could have been lifeless, Deeks." Kensi pointed out.

"Touché."

"Look on the bright side, Mr. Deeks." Hetty cut in. "As an NCIS agent who lost his home due to an official NCIS operation, NCIS gives monetary assistance with purchasing a new home, as well as replacing your stuff."

Noticing the feral smile on Deeks face Granger added. "You are limited to two surfboards Deeks. Two, and they have to be off the self. No custom, one off boards."

Deeks just smiled. "Sweet!"

Kensi couldn't help but laugh.

"Miss Jones." Hetty said turning to Nell. "I'm afraid that you will have to stay at the Mission as well, until we have a better idea what is going on."

"Eric." Granger walked over behind the analyst. "Two things. Pull camera footage from Deeks break in and the crowd around when the police responded. Let's see if we recognize anyone. Second, see if anyone is searching the LAPD system for information on Deeks or Shelby Reece."

"Will do." Eric began typing away at his keyboard.

"Alright. Let's go make the call." Sam said heading out of OPS. Callen, Hetty, and Granger followed him.

* * *

Callen dialed the number and waited for the answer.

"Yes?"

"The job is done. We have your sister." Callen answered.

"You have Shelby Reece. Has she said anything?"

"Just the standard. No. Put me down. Where are you taking me? We sedated her and now she is resting quite soundly. Interrogating her wasn't part of the plan. Just grab her and turn her over. Now, about payment?"

"Yes, your finder's fee." The voice was silent for a moment. "South Docks. Pier 9. Ship's name Archangel. 9 PM. You bring Shelby Reece we bring $250,000"

"South Docks, Pier 9, Archangel, 9PM. Got it." Callen repeated, then the line went dead.

"They are here in LA, on ship. They are moving something." Sam said looking around at the other people gathered at Hetty's desk.

Hetty picked up the phone. "Mr. Beale, I have another to do to add to your list. Please find out everything you can about a ship called the Archangel. It is docked at the port in LA, south docks, pier 9. It's where the exchange is to be made."

"They were very curious about what she said when she was taken. They were fishing about what we knew about Shelby Reece." Granger added.

"They are definitely suspicious. It concerns me that that they didn't ask you to execute her outright. They aren't sure what you are. They want to bring you in to see whose side you are on." Hetty told the group.

"We don't take Nell." Callen stated flatly.

"Mr. Callen…."

"No Hetty. We aren't talking about this. They think she is a cop. They will shoot her as soon as they see her. We show her to them they open fire on her and us. I will not take her to the meet."

"Mr. Callen…"

"I said no, Hetty." G leaned in on the desk. "We hit the group at 8:30 with every tactical team we can beg, borrow, or steal. Nell doesn't leave the Mission until that boat is sunk in the harbor."

"AGENT CALLEN!" Hetty finally raised her voice. "We have to allow Miss Jones to be seen at the meet." Hetty raised her hand to stall further argument. "The only way to keep Miss Jones safe is to do for her what we have done for Mr. Deeks. Death's Head have to believe that she is dead. They have to see her die. To that end we are going to have to have Shelby Reece die in full view of the individuals aboard that ship. We are then going to have to allow at least a few to 'escape' to return to the cartel and tell them that Shelby Reece is dead."

The fact that Callen saw the logic of Hetty's argument didn't stop him from raging against it. Rather than say something else to make the disagreement worse, he simply walked away.

Sam went to follow but Granger grabbed his shoulder.

"Give him minute. He's never going to like this plan, but he will realize that it is the only way to protect her in the long run.

Sam looked Granger in the eye. "I hate the long run. I despise the big picture."

Granger grunted. "You have no idea." With that Granger walked away, leaving Sam and Hetty standing at her desk.

"Mr. Hanna." Hetty said as she sat back down in her chair. "Will you give me a moment?" Sam nodded his head and walked off toward the armory. Hetty picked up her cup of tea and realized it was empty. She put the cup and saucer back on the desk. She wasn't looking forward to giving Nell the bad news.

* * *

Kensi watched Nell walk out of OPS when everyone else did. She followed Nell down the stairs, through the gym and into the ladies locker room. When she opened the door she saw Nell sitting on one of the benches. She had the distinct feeling that Nell was waiting for her.

"I can do this Kensi. Why does everyone suddenly think I'm a moron? I have the highest IQ here. I've passed all the field test. I have field experience. Why am I getting the kid gloves? Even Hetty is talking about me showing up in full body armor. I want to be treated like they treat you. I'm not a damn kid."

Kensi sort of froze. She wasn't sure what she was expecting to hear when she walked through the door, but this certainly wasn't it. She should have seen it coming though. Before Deeks got tortured and the mess in Afghanistan she would have reacted exactly the same way. After all that though, she had learned to appreciate a little over compensation and concern from those around her.

Kensi took a deep breath, organizing her thoughts. She didn't just want to rehash what she had said earlier. That's when a thought occurred to her.

"Nell, this morning, when we said there was a guy coming around the house and I told you to stay in the bathroom, what were you thinking and feeling?"

Nell looked back up at Kensi. "I felt the adrenaline rush. Then my fight or flight response took over. I was worried about Callen and Sam. I mean, I know they can take care of themselves, and I've listened to him over comms, but it's different knowing that they were in that situation to protect me. It's kind of a strange feeling having people risk their lives for you." Nell stood up and began pacing the locker room. "I know this isn't my fault. This is all some sort of strange accident, but I don't want any of you getting hurt because of me. I would feel awful."

That was the entrance Kensi was looking for. "How do you think any of us would feel if you got hurt because of this accident? Nell," Kensi sat down on the bench Nell was pacing in front of. "Deeks already got shot because of all of this. I wasn't there and Sam and G got there in the nick of time. I'm just glad that Deeks luck has held out. We can't depend on luck anymore. There have been too many close calls. For our own selfish reasons we are doing anything we can to make sure you are safe. At this point in time, we are all more than willing to deal with your anger and hurt feelings if it means we don't fail again. If it means we don't fail you."

Nell sat down next to Kensi with a huff. "You know Kensi, you certainly know how to take the wind out of a girls sails when she's working herself up into a good mad."

Kensi looked over at Nell. "Blame Deeks, I do. He's had years of practice defusing me. I guess I've learned a thing or two.

Nell looked up at Kensi. "I won't tell Deeks you said that."

* * *

Deeks was watching footage around his apartment from the moment it was broken into until LAPD arrived. He had to admit, it hurt almost as much as being shot. Just watching people pull your life apart. He knew it was ridiculous. He had been shot several times and tortured by a Russian. He still didn't like watching it.

"Eric, is there a way to see who's across the street from my place? If they are going to be watching to see who shows up, then that's most likely where they would be."

"Give me just a second." Eric started typing away at his keyboard. "This is a camera from the shop on the same side of the street as yours looking down the block toward your place. It should give us the best vantage point. If you see anything of interest I can try and find a better, closer camera."

Eric forwarded through the footage. All you could see of the people entering and then leaving Deeks place were 'black clad ninjas' as he and Eric had taken to referring to them.

"Eric, back up the footage to just right after the break-in. Now fast forward again. Watch the middle table out in front of the little coffee bar on this end of the street.

Eric watched the footage scroll. "Wow, they sat at a closed café for four hours, in the middle of the night."

"Yeah, no reason not to relax when you are doing a stake out." Deeks walked closer to the screen. "Can you find another angle or camera to use? See if we can figure out who this is."

"Yes. In fact, this place has a camera inside and outside, so give me just a minute."

Deeks turned to Eric. "How do you know that?"

Eric sort of stuttered. "We used it that time you got shot. You know before this time you got shot."

"Right."

"Wow." Eric said as the pictures of both men appeared on the screen. The shop wasn't open yet so the outside camera had the best picture. "There they are. Do they look like members of the Death's Head to you?"

"Is it good enough for facial recognition?" Deeks asked.

"Gonna be iffy, but I'll try."

"Let me know what you find." With that Deeks walked out of OPS.

* * *

Callen was already through his fourth magazine before Sam entered the range. He never said anything, just stood there, leaned against the wall behind him.

Callen put to more magazines of bullets down range before setting the Sig down on the table and pulling off his ear protection.

"I know Sam."

Sam didn't say a word.

"I know that we have to make this public. If we don't make it convincing that Nell's legend is dead, then we risk this happening all over again. I know that."

G turned around and finally looked at Sam. "It doesn't mean I have to like it or even agree with it, but I will do it."

Sam didn't say anything. He just nodded at Callen, turned, and left the range.


	11. The Last Minute

**I'm so happy so many people have stayed with this story. For a planned story it's gone much better than I expected. Thank you to everyone who left reviews.**

**To everyone following, thank you as well.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA**

* * *

Hetty walked into the OPS where Deeks and Eric were still going through footage. She saw the facial recognition software running against faces pulled from surveillance.

"Who are these charming gentlemen?" Hetty noticed both of them jump at the sound of her voice.

Deeks took the question. "These are the two guys we identified as watching to see who showed up to watch my apartment. They stayed out in front of a closed café for four hours while the police did their thing. Eric is trying to get a facial match on them."

"And there they are." Eric said. "Meet Hectar Rodriquez and Manuel Perez. They are lieutenants in the Death's Head organization."

"Well that's not surprising." Deeks said.

"Well this is, they are from the Mexican side of Death's Head. Everything I've found is from Mexico. This appears to be the first time they have ever been in the states." Eric said. "Their record in Mexico, however, it extensive and varied. Drugs, murder, kidnapping, assault, bribery, etc. They apparently enjoy a good crime."

Hetty looked at the screen. "The Mexican side? Mr. Beale, what have you found out about the ship Archangel?"

"It's registered out of Argentina, but ownership is hidden through a maze of holding companies and in some cases simply false documentation. It is however exactly where we were told it would be." Eric hit a few buttons and several live shots of the ship appeared on screen. "All of this is footage from the docks. I started recording footage when the location of the ship was given."

"Very good work Mr. Beale. Is there anything else?"

"Just one. Everything on this ship looks normal, like a regular freighter, but, if you look on top of the bridge just to the rear of the standard equipment." Eric hit a few more buttons. "Those three dishes aren't for watching TV. This looks more like some sort of command and control communication set up."

"Mr. Beale, please send these pictures to Agent Del Campo. I would like to know what the DEA knows about these two."

"Sure, Hetty." Eric answered.

* * *

"Feel better." Kensi asked.

"About how I acted or about being a target?" Nell looked a little nervous.

"About how you acted. Being a target sucks. Always will."

"Then in that case yes, I'm better."

"Good. Now, we are going to have to go talk to Sam and G about tonight. We are going to have to have a plan. After that we are going to have to go over it until it is automatic and we have found all the holes in it."

"That won't be depressing."

"We have your back Nell. You let us do the worrying."

* * *

Hetty was sitting at her desk when the phone rang. She picked it up when she saw Eric's name appear.

"Yes, Mr. Beale."

"Hetty, Agent Del Campo just called me back requesting a meet at the boathouse in half an hour. She didn't want to discuss whatever it was over the phone."

"Thank you Mr. Beale. Please let Agent Callen and Agent Hanna know and they can meet her there. Remind them that they cannot tell her about Mr. Deeks."

* * *

Sam and G arrived at the boatshed before Agent Del Campo arrived.

"You know, when an agent wants a face to face it is always bad news." Sam said taking a seat on the sofa.

G had a seat on the chair beside him. "Yes, and given the last seventy-two hours, I have a feeling this is going to be worse than most."

Agent Talia Del Campo walked into the boast shed a few minutes later. She shook Sam's and G's hands. "It's nice to see you guys again, but I really wish you hadn't sent those pictures. Are they currently in America?" She said pointing to the two faces displayed on the screen at the head of the table.

"Yes." Sam answered. "On a boat in LA Harbor."

"Damn. I take it you know who they are and who they work for, that's why you called me. You just want details?"

"Yes." G said shaking his head.

"Hectar Rodriquez is Santiago's cousin but they were raised like brothers. Your intel probably has him listed as some high level lieutenant, but he is more like a general. The Death's Head army doesn't make a move without his say so, and it doesn't move without him knowing. Call him number three in the organization. Manuel Perez is logistics. He moves it, ships it, and flies it. He handles everything the cartel does. Ships, trucks, cars, people – all of it run by him. He also happens to be Santiago's brother-in-law. Family is a big deal in any cartel, but in the Death's Head, it trumps everything."

Talia turned from the screen where the two men's faces were displayed.

"If both of them are here, in LA, then….wait, what boat? The Archangel?" Talia sent questioning looks between the two agents.

"Yeah." Sam replied.

"Then it's worse." Talia said looking at the floor.

"It always is." G responded.

"The Archangel is Santiago's boat. It's the one he travels on. On the outside it doesn't look like much, but inside it's like a yacht. It also has doors under the water line that allow it to dump and retrieve narco submarines."

"Ok, I know you all have a lot going on but how does the DEA not know that the leadership of Death's Head is sitting in LA harbor."

"I can trust the two of you to keep a secret right?" Callen and Sam have incredulous looks. "Right. Forgot who I was talking to. Death's Head has a mole in DEA. High up in the DEA. There have been two separate attempts to smoke the mole out and they both failed. In fact each investigation implicated the agent in charge of the investigation. I'm pretty sure that the first agent was clean and I know the second one was."

"You?" Callen said taking a guess.

"Yep. I still got sidelined while everything got sorted out. Why do you think I was undercover at a fish market? Anyway, do not bring the DEA in on this. If you do they will run and they will know that some three letter agency is after them."

"We are a four letter agency." Callen responded.

"Right." Talia answered.

"Thank you for the help." Sam said offering his hand again.

"Don't mention it." Talia said shaking Sam's and then G's hand. "Seriously, to anyone. The fewer people who know I ever talked to you the better." With that she turned to walk out the door.

Sam turned to G. "She didn't even ask."

As Talia opened the door to leave she turned to face them. "Agent Blye and I reached an understanding. I don't ask about Marty and she doesn't sneak into my apartment and slit my throat while sleep."

G and Sam just laughed.

* * *

When they got back to the mission Sam and G went straight to Hetty's desk.

Sam spoke first. "Hetty, this isn't going to work. We are going to have to rethink the plan."

"What do you mean Mr. Hanna?"

"The two guys outside Deeks place aren't just lieutenants. They are related to Santiago. Hectar runs the military arm of the family. Manuel is the logistics man. He runs the entire smuggling operation, sea, air, and land. Also the Archangel? It may look like a container vessel but it is fitted out like a luxury yacht inside. Del Campo says that if it is here, Santiago is here."

"Add to that the fact that there is mole in DEA for Death's Head." Callen spoke up.

"How sure is she about the mole?"

"She ran the second hunt for him and ended up being framed as the mole. It's why she was working at the fish processing plant while they sorted it out."

"This situation keeps getting worse and worse gentlemen." Hetty stapled her fingers as she sat at her desk. "I agree that the original plan is no longer viable." She looked up at her two agents. "What do you suggest?"

"We hit the boat." Callen stated firmly. Sam shook his head in the affirmative.

"We hit the boat before the meet. Nell stays here. The currently reality doesn't make risking her life necessary." Callen was almost pleading.

Hetty didn't exactly concede the point. "Yes, Mr. Callen. Miss Jones will not be a decoy."

Sam and Hetty both noticed Callen's shoulders and facial features relax at the statement.

"We are going to need a lot of firepower G." Sam said.

"You let me worry about fire power, Agent Hanna. Get the team and Director Granger together in OPS and come up with a plan." With that Hetty reached over and picked up the phone.

* * *

Kensi, Deeks, Nell, and Eric were all in OPS pouring over the video, pictures, and schematics for the buildings near the docs where Archangel was docked.

Kensi looked up when Sam and G walked into the room. "Hey guys. I'm glad you're here. We are trying to get a plan going here."

"The plan has changed." Callen stated evenly. Everyone looked at him with different levels of surprise. "Hetty connected us to a DEA source. The source says that the Archangel isn't just any transport. The inside is supposed to be set up like a luxury yacht. It supposedly has underwater hatches that allow it to launch and retrieve narco subs as well. Also, the two 'lieutenants' that were watching Deeks place? They are family of Santiago. One is his cousin who runs the military arm of the business. The other is his brother-in-law and he runs the entire smuggling side. The source says that that if both of them are here on the Archangel, then Santiago is here."

Sam stuck with 'the source' motif. "The source also said that Death's Head has a mole in the DEA. So we have to stay completely internal for this whole thing."

"The source?" Kensi arched an eyebrow at them.

"Yes. The source." Callen stated in such a way as to brook no further discussion.

Sam leaned over the table looking at the layout. He was just about to begin speaking when Hetty and Granger walked into the room.

"Eric, please open a secure video link to Camp Pendleton and the San Diego office."

Eric hit several buttons on his keyboard causing live video feeds to appear showing the NICS tactical centers of both locations.

Hetty turned to her agents. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Special Agent Hank Greeson. He heads the tactical response unit out of San Diego. The will go by the call sign Priest. This is Special Agent Roger Henson. He is currently running the Great Lakes tactical unit through training at Camp Pendleton. They will go by the call sign Wyvern. They are going to help us with tonight's operation. We will go by call sign Wizard."

Granger spoke up. "In light of new information, the fake hostage hand over is going to be abandoned. They Death's Head already know Agent Deeks to be LAPD. They assume Agent Jones is as well. They suspect the rest of the team as being police as well. The identification of the two new players as well as the high likely hood that Santiago himself is here make the risk unreasonable." Granger nods at Callen. "We are going to go with Agent Callen's original plan. We are going to hit the ship half an hour before the agreed upon meet time." Granger saw some questioning looks. "The two tactical teams need time to get here and geared up. Also moving this many people in such a small area, the darkness will cover our us." At that point Granger turned to Nell. "Agent Jones, you no longer have to play decoy on this mission, but you are a field agent. If you want to be part of this, then no one," Granger leveled a steely gaze at Callen, "will stop you."

Nell wondered if someone had talked to Granger about not calling her bait. It occurred to her that maybe he had told everyone else not to call her bait. There was still so much she didn't know about the man. Her decision was make quickly. "I would like to see this through, sir." She couldn't back down now. If she wanted to be a field agent she had to go even when it was hard. She looked over at Kensi who gave her a slight nod in encouragement.

"I assumed as much." Granger responded.

Nell though that maybe the unusual look on Granger's face might have been a smile. It was hard to tell, she had never seen him do that before.

"You can partner with Agent Blye." Hetty added. "I trust that will keep your blood pressure down, Agent Deeks."

Deeks didn't say anything. He just smiled and nodded his head toward Nell.

"Alright, I believe a plan was being put in place?" Hetty questioned.

"Yes." Sam responded immediately. He looked toward the screens where the tactical units were gathered. "How many marksman do each of you have?" Each special agent responded they had one designated marksman. "Excellent, you can run over watch under Special Agent Blye's direction." Sam turned to Kensi. "Were do you want to set up Kensi?"

Kensi had been studying the overheads and schematics. "Well, I would say the crane here and the roof here and here, but those are either being watched or already manned. We are going to have to pick secondary locations with better cover. We can cover from inside the top floor of this building, the deck of this ship, and I will be inside this warehouse, here." She gestured to the positions on the screen causing dots to appear that everyone could see. "That gives us full coverage of the whole ship and surrounding area. We will also be able to remove any guards they have at these other higher locations."

The marksmen from the other two squads were shaking their heads in agreement.

Sam continued. "Using the darkness as cover we will move to the ramp and make entrance to the vessel. We will be in front, Priest next, Wyvern last. Wyvern you will take the helm. Under no circumstances can this boat leave the dock. Once you have subdued the crew and disabled the controls, sweep the rear. Priest, you descend as quickly as you can and find the underwater doors. There is some concern that they may attempt to open them to sink the ship to destroy evidence, kill us, and attempt escape. We will sweep forward."

"We have no schematics of the inside of this ship. You all will be going into a snake's den. We have been told that the inside is more like a yacht than a commercial vessel so keep that in mind." Granger looked around the room. "This is a national security matter and as such is more a military operation than a police action. Do not hesitate to do what needs to be done. Am I clear?" Granger looked around the room as well as the people on the screens. Liking what he saw he continued. "Greeson, Henson, get your people moving. We will see you in a few hours as the air field hanger. From there we move forward."

With that the screens went black. Everyone looked at one another as if to gage their thoughts and emotions.

"The calm before the storm." Callen muttered.

"I have always hated this part." Sam agreed.

"Agents." Hetty said getting their attention. "Might I suggest that you begin your preparations for tonight? Things will become very busy, very quickly."

Callen nodded and headed for the door. Sam, Nell, Kensi, and Deeks followed. As they cleared the door to OPS Deeks grabbed Kensi's hand.

"Be careful, Fern." He hugged her with his good arm.

"I will. I've got Nell." Kensi said.

"Deeks 2.0 at your service." Nell said with a bow.

With that the four left to prepare their gear for the night and Deeks returned to OPS.


	12. Go Time

**And here is the climax. I hope it lives up to expectations. My chapters keep getting longer and longer.**

**Thank you everyone for following and commenting.**

**(Please read the author's note at the bottom after reading the story.)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.**

* * *

Nell was crouched on the catwalk in the forward portion of warehouse facing the harbor and the Archangel. She was looking through her spotting scope. She and Kensi had set up a table to use as the rest for her scope and Kensi's rifle. As she watched she could see movement on the deck of the ship, but nothing that looked out of the ordinary. She swung the scope up and to the left to look at the crane that normally would be used to load the ship and began carefully searching its crisscrossing steel skeleton.

"There he is." She whispered quietly. Under normal conditions it would have been quiet enough for only her to hear it. However, given how close she was to Kensi and the absolutely unnatural silence of the building the other woman heard it easily.

Kensi was on her knees on her shooting mat attaching her silencer to her rifle. After securing the silencer she pulled a magazine out of the rifle's case and slid it home with the resounding click that let her know it was seated properly. Hearing Nell's whisper she responded.

"You found the first lookout?"

Nell didn't take her eyes off the scope. "Yes. He's on the crane, just to the left of the door of the operator's cab. He's standing right now. Looks like he has a pair of binoculars as well." Nell leaned back to look at her surroundings. "Given the shadow and distance, even with binoculars he won't be able to see us here."

"Nope, not a chance." Kensi said as she folded down the bipod legs on her rifle and set the two little feet on the table. She tucked the stock into her shoulder and looked through the scope. It only took her a second to find the man standing on the crane. "Got him."

Nell looked back through her scope giving Kensi range and wind speed.

"Got it." Kensi responded. She keyed her mike. "Wizard Sentry – have visual on first lookout. Crane, catwalk by the cab, awaiting orders."

Moments later the other two over watch positions checked in.

"Priest Sentry – have visual on one lookout on roof, front left corner, of building three. Repeat, single lookout."

"Wyvern Sentry – no other lookouts sighted."

"Just two?" Nell questioned.

"Well, they aren't expecting trouble. Having armed guys roaming around would eventually attract attention, even here."

Nell shook her head in agreement.

"This is Wizard actual to all sentries. Execute now." Callen called.

Kensi placed the crosshairs a little up and to the left of the targets heart, took a deep breath, let it out slowly, held it, and then began to slowly pull the trigger. At four and a half pounds of pressure the trigger broke launching the bullet from the rifle.

Nell watched the lookout stagger back from the blow of the bullet and then collapse to the walkway of the crane. Somewhere in the back of her mind she realized how much different it was to see this happen live and relatively up close rather than watching it from OPS, but it didn't bother her.

Kensi once again keyed her mike. "Wizard Sentry – target is down. Say again, target is down."

Her statement was followed by Priest. "Priest Sentry – target is down. Say again, target is down."

"Wyvern Sentry – all clear. No further movement."

Callen immediately came back on the net. "Wizard Actual – execute breach. Execute breach."

* * *

Callen set foot on the entry ramp first. He was followed by Sam who was in turn followed by ten members of the OPS rapid response group. As he got to the top of the ramp he was greeted by the wide, surprised eyes of the first armed guard that evening. A quick double tap of the MP5 to the man's chest ended any chance of resistance. At the first hatch they found, Callen quickly opened the door while Sam and the remainder of Wizard entered the boat proper.

As he stepped through the door to follow the rest of the team, Callen couldn't help but notice the drastic difference between the inside and outside of the boat. While the outside had the appearance of an aging completely spartan work boat, the inside was anything but. The floor was carpeted. The walls were actually covered to hide the bare metal and pipes. The lighting was the sort that would be found on cruise ships. He could only imagine what it cost to do the conversions. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts to set his mind on the task at hand.

* * *

As Team Wizard moved forward toward the suspected crew quarters, team Wyvern made its way to the bridge. Stealth was the missions biggest asset during the operation so flash bangs were completely out of the question. That meant the standard dynamic entry the tactical team was used to simply wasn't an option. Instead the group, crouched low so as not to be see, moved around the gantry on the outside of the bridge until they had positioned themselves completely across the front of the bridge. The plan was to stand up and point their guns through the windows, suppressing any resistance, and allowing three members of the team to enter the bridge to restrain the crew.

Agent Henson looked to his left and right to be sure everyone was ready. He held out his hand with three fingers raised. As the last finger fell, everyone stood as a unit, pointing their weapons into the pilot house. Of the seven men there, only two were armed. Both made the choice to resist. Shots from the team's silenced weapons ended the resistance before it had a chance to start. The only noise was that of the breaking glass and the bodies hitting the floor. As the rest of the team kept them covered, three members moved through the room zip tying everyone and laying them on the floor. After everything was secured, Henson and his second in command moved into the room to disable the ship's controls.

The second in command reached behind his back producing a sledge hammer. He looked at his boss grinning. "Never leave home without it."

Henson smiled back and waved his hand indicating to his second that the floor was his.

In less than a minute the navigation, throttle, and anchor controls were completely destroyed. Millions of dollars of equipment destroyed by a ten dollar hammer.

"This is Wyvern Actual. Ship is immobile. Moving to support Wizard."

"Wizard Actual. Copy that."

Leaving two men behind to insure no one freed themselves, the rest of Wyvern made their exit from the bridge and began their move forward to support Wizard.

* * *

Team Priest wasn't having as easy a time. Not having schematics of the boat the group was moving based on the normal layout of boats like this. The problem was it had been heavily modified. The first path they took ended in a blocked corridor. It took them an extra ten minutes to get around the dead end. Now they were standing outside a set of large double pressure doors.

"This is Priest Actual – large set of pressure doors. Going to have to go loud to get through."

"Wizard Actual – Roger that. We are on the clock. Make it happen. Wyvern and Wizard have joined up and are moving forward."

Greeson motioned to two of his men who moved toward the doors and started wiring up charges. Greeson hated this part. They could protect their hearing but the pressure wave always left him queasy. The two agents came back and the entire group moved down the corridor and around a corner.

The agent started the count down. "Three, two, one." He triggered the device.

Greeson and several of the other agents shook their heads to clear them and then went around the corner slowly, guns raised.

The individuals on the other side of the door were in worse shape. Not only were they standing closer to the door and not expecting it, they were in an enclosed room that made the shock wave that much worse. Most were on the floor but several were staggering around. Team Priest didn't even have to fire a shot. They entered the room and secured everyone without incident.

"Wow, this is really impressive boss." One of the agents said looking at the pool in the belly of the boat along with the underwater hatches.

"Boss, come look at this." Greeson walked over to the agent calling him. What Greeson saw was both amazing and a little disturbing. "It's got to be at least a ton of cocaine. I can't even fathom what the street value would be."

"Priest Actual – sub room secure. Got at least one sub and a lot, repeat a lot, of drugs down here. DEA is going to have a heart attack when they see this."

* * *

Back at OPS, Hetty, Granger, Deeks, and Eric were watching the raid take place. They had the feeds not only of the agents themselves and but also the security cameras around the boat they had been watching for a while.

While Hetty and Granger were focused on the team cameras, Eric and Deeks were focused on the external cameras.

"There is a car approaching the docks." Deeks said pointing to the screen showing the feed from the security cameras. Deeks touched the one button to his head set.

"Homeplate – there are two, repeat two vehicles approaching the dock. Coming up between building two and three now." Deeks watched as they stopped and gunmen climbed out of the vehicles.

Granger realized the problem immediately. "This is Granger – agents on the bridge come to the window and repel the boarding. All sentries, reposition immediately. They are in your blind spot. Someone got a message out after the explosion."

Deeks watched as three men entered the building that Kensi and Nell were in.

"Kensi, you've got three armed me that just entered the building on the west side."

* * *

Kensi tried to ignore the panic she heard in Deeks's voice. She looked over at Nell, who had shouldered her M4. Kensi put down her rifle and grabbed her own M4. The two agents turned and began slowly moving away from the west side to try get a visual on the three men approaching. Nell saw them first coming up the stairs.

"They want to be over watch for their group." Nell whispered.

Kensi nodded her head. "Let them make the landing, then we take them."

Nell nodded in agreement.

As the third man made the landing both agents opened fire. The first and second man both went down hard as bullets hammered into their chest, instantly ending their lives. The third man immediately threw himself down the stairs, avoiding Kensi's and Nell's rifle fire, and disappeared into the darkness of the warehouse floor.

Kensi started down the stairs closest to her with Nell following behind. Upon hitting the warehouse floor they began moving through the crates and boxes searching for the one that got away.

Kensi wasn't at all happy about the tactical situation. This guy had help just outside the door if he got to them and he could be anywhere in the maze of boxes and crates. It didn't mean she didn't have to search for him, but it didn't mean she had to like it. She was looking the wrong way when the gunman came out from around a crate to her rear, but Nell wasn't. Nell shoulder checked Kensi out of the line of fire. Even as she fell toward the floor Kensi marveled at the woman's strength. She heard the gunfire as she hit. She rolled turning her weapon toward the attacker and pulled the trigger. She was rewarded with seeing both bullets hit home and the gunman fall to the floor.

She turned to thank Nell, but found her lying still on the floor.

"Nell!" Kensi scrambled over to Nell and saw to bullets holes in the front of her vest. "No. No. No." Kensi pulled the Velcro on the vest and lifted up the front. "Thank God." The bullets hadn't gone through.

That's when Nell started coughing and sputtering. "Ow." She opened her eyes and looked at Kensi. "I specifically remember that the plan was changed so I didn't get shot." She rubbed her chest and ribs. "Holy hell, that hurts."

"Better than the alternative." Kensi said helping her up.

* * *

Everyone in OPS was on edge after hearing the shots.

"Sentry – status?" Granger barked. He was entirely too aware of what happened the last time he let Agent Blye out in the field on a sniper mission. He must be getting old. He was never the sentimental before.

"Wizard Sentry – I'm good." Kensi answered. "Wizard Sentry 2 took two to the vest but is fine. Very sore but none the worse for wear."

Granger and Hetty both let out a breath they didn't realize they were holding. Eric dropped his head forward banging it on the keyboard. Deeks went to flop into a chair, missed, and on reflex used both hands to brace himself. As his hand hit the floor the stress immediately went to the wounds in his shoulder tearing out three of the stiches. He let out a hiss of pain as he sat on the floor. He looked up at Granger, Hetty, and Eric. Hetty and Eric looked concerned. Granger looked more like he wanted to laugh, but he didn't.

"No one." Deeks glared at Granger. "No one tells Kensi about this." Deeks leaned back until he was laying on the floor. "Actually, nobody tell anyone. Ever."

Everyone turned back to the screens.

* * *

By the time the remaining arriving gunmen made it to the top of the boarding ramp, members of both team Priest and team Wyvern had made it to the deck. The firefight was intense but very quick. Two agents were hit but nothing life threating. The most interesting part of the fire fight was the person who was leading the group who was captured alive. Hectar Rodriquez.

* * *

Sam and Callen along with the rest of team Wizard were running out of zip ties. They had managed to take the boat with minimal shooting. There were members of Death's Head tied up all over the boat. It was going to take hours to get them all out. However, since the big boom in the back of the boat, things had become a little more exciting. The remaining members of the cartel were moving forward. Callen assumed they were moving to a more defensible position to have a last stand.

Sam peaked around the latest corner and quickly pulled his head back. "Found'em." He turned toward Callen. "This turns into a large hallway. Leads up to a large set of double doors, most likely some sort of master suite. The guys we've been herding have set up a barrier in the hallway."

"Well" Callen said. "We can throw ourselves at the walls of their defense." Callen sat down on the floor. "Or we can simply wait. They have no place to go."

Sam slid his back down the wall till he was sitting on the floor. "I'm good with waiting."

* * *

In the end, it took seven hours and two dozen canisters of tear gas, but the remaining cartel members finally walked out, Santiago and Manuel Perez among them.

The team didn't get back to the Mission until the sun had started rising. It had taken hours for them to deal with the ATF, DEA, FBI, Customs, and Homeland Security once they arrived. All the agencies wanted in on the take down and the agents just wanted out.

Paramedics at the scene had checked on Nell and declared her ribs bruised and sore, but not broken. Nell had tried to avoid it, but Callen had put his foot down and played the agent in charge card. She had tried to stare him down, but when he threatened to go to Hetty and have her agent status reevaluated, she conceded. They both knew he wouldn't actually do it, but Nell got the message.

Eric had been downloading the data from the ship using the cartel's own uplink after the team had secured the communication room. He was still going through most of the data, but had found several items of interest that he forwarded onto Agent Del Campo.

Granger, Hetty, and Eric met them at the bottom of the stairs as they entered the mission.

"Very good work, Agents. Very good work indeed." Hetty pronounced.

"Agent Jones." Granger spoke up. "I thought we agreed that you weren't going to play decoy."

Nell did her best not to smile. "So did I sir. So did I."

Granger looked them all over. "Excellent job."

Eric looked everywhere but at Nell. "I'm glad you guys are alright."

Kensi looked around the Mission. "Where is Deeks?"

"Right here." Deeks walked up behind her. He had gotten one of the medics on team Priest, who hadn't stayed for the seven hour standoff to re-stitch his wound. He had taken two pain pills to take the edge off and was sleeping on the sofa when the team returned. He shook hands with Sam and Callen and hugged Kensi with his good arm.

"Well, the last several days have been a mess. So I recommend a long weekend. Everyone go home. I'll see you on Tuesday." With that Hetty and Granger walked back up the stairs.

"Excellent." Sam said heading for the door.

"I'm beat. Later guys." Callen waved as he followed Sam out.

"I'm going to go home and soak." Nell said as she gingerly left the bullpen.

Deeks looked around sort of lost. "I…I don't have a home to go to."

Kensi, who still had her arms around his waist, looked up at him with a smile. "Yeah, about that…"

* * *

**Well there it is. My first planned story and it actually turned out the way I had intended it too. Now, I have an interim story planned out to deal with Densi moving in together and shopping. It also deals with the semi mess I've made of the Callen/Nell/Eric 'thing' (which I'm going to fix). Hetty still has to talk to Deeks about the car. Then I have the next case. I've kind of gotten strung out on this. It's really rather sad, but oh well.**


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